DAILY BIBLE ILLUSTRATIONS : 



ORIGINAL READINGS FOR A YEAR, 



ON SUBJECTS FROM 



SACRED HISTORY, BIOGRAPHY, GEOGRAPHY, 
ANTIQUITIES, AND THEOLOGY. 



ESPECIALLY DESIONED FOR THE FAMILY CIRCLE. 



BY JOHN K1TT0, D.D. P.S.A., 

EDITOR OF 'THE PICTORIAL BIBLE,' 'CYCLOPAEDIA OF BIBLICAL 
LITERATURE,' ETC., ETC. 



toning $nin. 

THE LIFE AND DEATH OF OUR LORD, 



NEW YORK: 

ROBERT CARTER & BROTHERS, 

No. 285 BROADWAY. 

1856. 



PREFACE 



The present volume of the Daily Bible Illustrations is sub- 
stantially a history of the Lord Jesus, reduced from the four 
Gospels, and so related as to comprise an interpretation of the 
incidents recorded. The consecutive "Headings" are more 
connected with each other than in any of the previous volumes, 
and might be almost perused as a continuous narrative divided 
into chapters. This feature of the volume has grown out of the 
necessity which existed for producing all the incidents of our 
Lord's career. But although a selection of topics was thus pre- 
cluded, some circumstances have been set forth in more full de- 
tail than others, either on account of their paramount import- 
ance, or from the illustrative matter they involved, or the expla- 
nations they required. 

The explanations embodied in the narrative, or embraced in 
the mere terms of statement, are the result of careful considera- 
tion, and often of much research. And it is hoped that some 
readers may receive assistance and benefit, for the better under- 
standing of our Lord's history as a whole, from the solicitude with 
which the writer has endeavored to realize, and to bring contin- 
ually into view, the position which Jesus appeared to occupy in 
the eyes of the people — the condition of the country, and the 
state of Jewish public opinion at the time He appeared — the 
fluctuations of that opinion in regard to himself — and the causes 
that led to, or the efTects that resulted from, the particular cir- 
cumstances recorded, showing, it is believed, that the Gospel 
history is not made up of a series of isolated incidents or " anec- 
dotes ;" but that all its parts will be found, by those who ex- 
amine them with attention, not only to manifest a determinate 
purpose, but to bear a close relation to each other. 



IV PREFACE. 

To arrange these incidents, as reported in varying order by 
four different historians, into one coherent narrative, is, however, 
confessedly a work of great difficulty ; and their proper alloca- 
tion in the present volume, has often been a matter of anxious 
consideration with the author. The order adopted, is mainly 
that of Dr. White's Greek Diatesseron, with the emendations of 
Br. Macbride, compared with the Greek Harmony of Abp. New- 
come, in the edition of Dr. Knapp, with the improvements 
thereon in Dr. E. Robinson's Harmony, and with due reference 
to Lightfoot, and to the recent Synopsis Evangelica of Dr. 
Tischendorf. The attention which has been given to the orderly 
arrangement of the different incidents of our Lord's history 
which the Evangelists record, will be abundantly rewarded, if 
it should induce any reader to enter upon the synoptical study 
of the Gospel narratives. 

In the course of the work, the writer has often, in a quiet 
way, endeavored to meet various exceptions which have been 
taken to particular points in the Gospel history of Christ. But 
this has not been done always ; nor has it been formally any part 
of his undertaking to consider cavils which have often been re- 
futed, and which few of his readers are likely to encounter, and 
none of them to entertain. 

The issue of the present volume has been retarded beyond the 
due time, chiefly from the protracted illness of the author : but 
restored health allows him to hope that, with the Lord's bless- 
ing, the remaining volume, comprising Readings in the History 
of the Apostles, will not be subjected to any such delay. 

London, January 1853. 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 



Page 

Altar of Incense 18 

The Prickly Pear 28 

Ancient Writing Tablet and Stylus 40 

Eastern Caravanserai 62 

The Cave of the Nativity 71 

The Avatars of Vishnu 84 

Gaudama, the last Budh 90 

Grand Lama of Thibet 91 

The Terebinth Tree 137 

Sycamore Tree at Matarieh 139 

The Locust Tree 170 

Ancient Sandals 195 

Eastern House, with Gallery 257 

The Pool of Bethesda 266 

The Triclinium, or Dinner-bed 289 

Alabaster Jars 291 

Eastern Dancing Girl 313 

The Didrachmon, or Double Drachma 333 

Sepulchre at Tyre, with Niches 358 

Grave-Clothes 358 

Gate at Herculaneum 365 

The Fig Tree 380 

Egyptian Watchmen, with Lantern 402 

Eastern Lanterns 402 

Zizyphus Spina Christi, or Christ's Thorn 415 



CONTENTS. 



TWENTY-SEVENTH WEEK. 

Page 

The Word , , . . 11 

Elias 14 

Zacharias c . . . 1 7 

The Vision 20 

Gabriel 2S 

Nazareth , 27 

The Annunciation , 31 



TWENTY-EIGHTH WEEK. 

Mary's Visit to Elisabeth 34 

Birth of John the Baptist 38 

The Perplexity 42 

The Taxing 46 

" All the World" 51 

Bethlehem 55 

The Inn and the Stable 69 



TWENTY-NINTH WEEK. 

Good Tidings 64 

The Cave of the Nativity . . 69 

The Genealogies 75 

Incarnation 79 

Christianity and Budhism 86 

The Year 95 

The Day 95 

THIRTIETH WEEK. 

The Name of Jesus 9 J 

The Presentation 103 

Simeon and Anna 106 

The Star in the East 110 

Visit of the Magi 117 

A. Chronological question 122 

The Massacre at Bethlehem 126 



Vill CONTENTS. 



THIRTY-FIRST "WEEK. 

Page 

God's Retributions 131 

Flight into Egypt 135 

Repose in Egypt 141 

Herod the Great 144 

Archelaus 148 

The Infancy of Jesus 152 

Visit to Jerusalem 156 



THIRTY-SECOND WEEK. 

The Lord Absent 160 

Jesus with the Doctors 163 

John the Baptist 166 

The Ministry of John 171 

The Baptism of Jesus 175 

Christ in the Wilderness 180 

The Three Temptations 186 



THIRTY-THIRD WEEK. 

" Tempted like as we are" 190 

The Baptist and the Delegates 193 

The First Disciples 196 

The Beginning of Miracles 200 

The Traders Driven from the Temple 204 

Herod's Temple 208 

Nicodemus 212 



THIRTY-FOURTH WEEK. 

Jesus and John 216 

Herod and Herodias 220 

The Samaritans 224 

The Woman of Samaria 228 

The Nobleman's Son 233 

Jesus at Nazareth 236 

The Draught of Fishes 240 



THIRTY-FIFTH WEEK. 

"Not as the Scribes" 245 

The Unclean Spirit 248 

The Leper 251 

The Paralytic 255 

The Housetop 258 

The Publicans 262 

The Pool of Bethesda 265 



CONTENTS. j x 

THIETY-SIXTH WEEK. 

The Impotent Man 269 

The Sabbath-Day 272 

The Twelve Apostles 277 

The Dying and the Dead 280 

Two Incidents at Capernaum 285 

The Second Tour through Galilee 293 

The Storm 297 

THIKTY-SEVEOTH WEEK. 

The Treasure and the Pearl 302 

Miracles and Murder 306 

The Crisis 314 

Trials of Faith 320 

The Transfiguration 325 

The Tribute Money 331 

The Feast of Tabernacles 337 



THIRTY-EIGHTH "WEEK. 

The Man Born Blind 342 

Sojourn in Judea 346 

Lazarus raised from the Dead 352 

Tour in Perea , 359 

Jesus at Jericho 366 

The Triumphal Entry 372 

The Barren Fig-Tree 378 

THIRTY-NINTH WEEK. 

Questionings 383 

Judas 389 

The Supper and the Agony 395 

The Jewish Trial 402 

The Roman Trial 409 

The Crucifixion 417 

The Resurrection 425 



DAILY BIBLE ILLUSTRATIONS. 



THE WORD. JOHN I. 1-18. 

When the history of a great personage is written by dif- 
ferent hands, the historians seldom commence at the same 
point of time. One begins with his birth, and reminds us of 
his parentage, his illustrious line, and his great ancestors. 
Another, passing over this, takes him up at the commence- 
ment of his public career. A third not only recites his birth 
and parentage, but dwells upon the circumstances which pre- 
ceded him and introduced him, and those which surrounded 
him when he appeared. Another may go back farther still 
into the antecedents, reporting all that he has been able- to 
learn of anterior history that might be supposed to influence 
his career, or to prepare the times for his appearing. 

The men who wrote the history of Jesus Christ were per- 
mitted, by the Holy Spirit, to exemplify the same diversity of 
procedure in their narratives. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and 
John, each commences our Lord's history at a different point 
of time, corresponding to the intimations just given. Their 
accounts must, therefore, be collated to furnish a complete nar 
rative ; and the exactness with which their several narratives 
dovetail into each other, to furnish a perfect and coherent 
whole, is not only admirable in itself, but suggests that this 
diversity was designedly permitted, for the purpose of furnish- 
ing conclusive evidence of the perfect truthfulness of the writers, 
and the minute accuracy of their statements. 



12 TWENTY-SEVENTH WEEK SUNDAY. 

Matthew commences with a genealogy of Jesus, traced 
downward from Abraham, and then proceeds to record his 
marvellous birth. Mark says nothing of his birth ; but after 
rapidly connecting "the beginning of the gospel of Jesus 
Christ, the Son of God," with the prophecies of the Old Testa- 
ment, proceeds at once to the commencement of his public 
mission by his baptism by John in the Jordan, and his formal 
recognition from heaven. Luke goes farther back, to the cir- 
cumstances preceding the birth of the Lord's harbinger, and 
then furnishes a more particular account than Matthew had 
supplied of the events preceding the birth of Christ himself. 
But John goes back farther still into the remote and ancient 
past. He speaks but little of that human birth which chiefly 
engages the attention of Matthew and Luke. He says of this, 
simply, that He " was made flesh, and dwelt among us." He 
goes back — back, into the darknesses of the eternal past, before 
the creation, and finds Him, who thus became flesh, " in the 
beginning with God." He ascends to the heaven of heavens, 
and finds there, in the bosom of the Father, Him who had, in 
those latter days, laid aside this glory to become the light of 
men. The other evangelists knew all this; but John alone 
set it forth plainly at the beginning. There was a reason. 
John wrote later than the others : and it was needed that 
there should be a plain and explicit declaration on a matter 
respecting which men had already begun to question and dis- 
pute. 

It is further remarkable, that while the other evangelists 
carefully record our Lord's final ascent to heaven, John, who 
at the commencement brings Him down from heaven as the 
incarnate Word, is alone silent with respect to his return 
thither. He knew that great fact to be already sufficiently 
recorded ; and it was the will of the Spirit that he should put 
on record much that they had passed over, rather than that 
he should repeat that which had already been sufficiently 
attested. 

We need not enter into the questions which have been 
raised as to the import of the Greek term (logos) translated 



THE WORD 13 

word, or into the views under which the sacred writer applied 
it to Christ. It is enough to know, that he certainly and un- 
deniably denotes by this term the Son of God, who, as Jesus, 
came into the world, and the world knew Him not ; who, as 
the Christ, to whom all the prophets had borne witness, came 
unto his own, and his own received Him not ; who, as the 
Light, came to shine into the darkness, and the darkness com- 
prehended Him not. Some, however, beheld in Him that 
glory which could belong only to " the Only-begotten of the 
Father ;" a few comprehended Him ; and some, although they 
did not yet fully comprehend Him, yet rejoiced to receive Him 
as their Saviour and their Lord. And what profit had they ? 
Verily this, that although they were exposed thereby to a 
great fight of afflictions, and were pierced through with many 
sorrows, — yet, to " as many as received Him, gave He power 
to become the sons of God !" 

" His by redemption, by adoption his" — 

in the possession of which high privilege and glorious distinc- 
tion they might well afford to trample, not only the treasures 
of the world, but its thorns and torturing scourges, beneath 
their feet. But what is it to receive Him ? Oh, would He 
but come, would we not receive Him, — would we not set wide 
open all our chambers for Him to enter in ? But, lo, He has 
passed away into the heavens, where we behold Him not, and 
whence we cannot receive Him. No, no. There was never 
but one way of receiving Him ; and every one of us can re- 
ceive Him as did the disciples who walked with Him on earth. 
The evangelist himself is careful to guard against any miscon- 
ception on this point, by explaining what it is to receive Him, 
and who they are to whom it is given, by receiving Him, to 
become the sons of God, — " even to them that believe on his 
name." Therefore the Ethiopian eunuch, when he declared 
that he believed " with all his heart," — that is, with true appro- 
priating faith, that Jesus Christ was the Son of God ; — there 
fore the jailer at Philippi, when he " rejoiced," believing in th* 
Lord Jesus Christ ; — therefore the last heart that has opened 



14 TWENTY-SEVENTH WEEK — MONDAY. 

to receive Him as a Saviour, — all these, although they beheld 
Him not in the flesh, did as truly receive Him, and did as truly 
receive the gift to become the sons of God, as those who, in 
that day, did literally receive Him into their houses — literally 
leaned upon his breast — literally left all and followed Him. 



TWENTY-SEVENTH WEEK— MONDAY. 

ELIAS. LUKE I. 17. 

Isaiah the prophet, when directed to " speak comfortably 
to Jerusalem," announced, " the voice of him that crieth in the 
wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in 
the desert a highway for our God." Isaiah xl. 3. Malachi, 
the last of the prophets, speaking in the Lord's name, declares, 
" Behold I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the 
way before me ; w * and further on he says, in the same great 
name, " Behold I will send you Elijah the prophet before the 
coming of the great and terrible day of the Lord."f 

From these passages the Jews rightly drew the inference, 
that the Messiah, for whose coming they looked with deep de- 
sire, would be preceded by a harbinger to announce him, and 
that this harbinger would be no other than Elijah the prophet 
in person. The correct apprehension of their views in this 
respect is important to the right understanding of several pas- 
sages in the gospels ; and as it appears that most of the views 
now entertained by the Jews, if not all of them, existed in the 
time of our Lord, they may be usefully cited in illustration. 

It is, then, to be observed, that this expectation of Elias, as 
the forerunner of the Messiah, has led them for many ages to 
give petitions for his manifestation a prominent place in their 
public, and doubtless also in their private, prayers. In their 
notions and expectations which they have connected with his 
name, they do not forget that the Tishbite tasted not of death ; 
for on this they have founded a large body of too curious specu- 
* Malachi iii. 1. f Malachi iv. 5. 



ELIAS. 15 

lations — sucli as appears so natural to the Hebrew mind, that 
the absence of it in the Scriptures might well excite our wonder, 
did we not know that the holy men of old spate not of them- 
selves, but as they were inspired by the Holy Ghost. The 
difference between the traditions and writings of the Hebrews, 
when left to themselves and the tendencies of their truly orien- 
tal minds, and what they produced under the direct teachings 
of the Divine Spirit, is so great and so signal as of itself to fur- 
nish a powerful argument for the inspiration of the Scriptures, 
though it has generally been overlooked. Well, seeing that 
Elijah died not, but was taken away in a whirlwind, it" came 
to be first conjectured, and then very fixedly believed, that 
although he retains his body, it is not like our bodies, — all its 
essential moisture having been dried up, or evaporated, by that 
fiery whirlwind which reft him from the earth. He acquired 
by this change a sort of half-spiritual frame, which qualified 
him to subsist without meat or drink, or the common necessi- 
ties of mortal life. They did not conceive that the prophet, 
even in this condition of existence, was taken to the " heaven 
of heavens ;" but to that earthly paradise from which our first 
parents were cast forth, where his proper station is beneath the 
tree of life. Yet he is not so confined to that spot as to pre- 
clude him from being in any part of the world where his 
presence is needed — in many or in all places at once — wher- 
ever Jews are ; for he has become the special and appointed 
guardian of their affairs ; and wherever they want a helper, 
there is he, redressing wrong, punishing injustice, and doing 
mercy. Many beautiful legends have they, relative to the in- 
terest Elias takes in the affairs of the Jews, of his watchfulness 
over their conduct, and of the good he has at various times 
done for Israel. He is supposed to be present at all circum- 
cisions, on which occasions a chair is set for him, and which 
he is supposed invisibly to occupy — " invisibly," except to those 
learned in the mysteries of the " Cabbala," who are able to 
perceive him ; whence we have in the Jewish books many ac- 
counts of interviews which the learned Rabbis have had with 
him, and the instructions they have received frorfl him. In 



16 TWENTY-SEVENTH WEEK MONDAY. 

these accounts lie is described as a venerable old man with a 
white beard ; but without anything in his appearance to suggest 
that he is not as other men. 

It will from this be perceived, that what the Jews look for 
and desire — as was probably also the case in the time of our 
Saviour — is not merely the presence of Elias — for he is, in their 
view, already present — but his manifestation, his public ap- 
pearance, to announce the approach of the Messiah. 

But the gospels teach us that the personage, whose coming 
to prepare the Lord's way is predicted in the New Testament, 
was no other than John the Baptist, whose birth was foreshown 
by an angel, as that of one who would come " in the spirit and 
power of Elias ;" — not Elias personally, but one coming as the 
antitype of Elias, as the Messiah himself was of David. And 
in this point of view, it is worthy of note, that in the prophecy 
of Malachi the harbinger is indicated by the official designation 
of " Elijah the prophet," and not by the personal one of " Elijah 
the Tishbite," which is constantly applied to him in the history 
of his career. Our Saviour himself also recognised the Baptist 
as the foretold Elijah ; for when the disciples demurred that 
they had been taught to expect Elias before the manifestation 
of the Messiah, he told them that Elias had already come in 
the person of John. There are, in fact, many analogies of 
office and character between the two : Both called the people 
to repentance ; and both, at the peril of their lives, fearlessly 
rebuked iniquity in high places. Both dwelt much apart in 
the wildernesses ; and of both it is specially mentioned that they 
were habitually clad in haircloth, and wore leathern girdles 
about their loins. 

But it may be objected, that John himself, when asked by 
the Jews, " Art thou Elias ?" answered, " I am not." In point 
or fact, he may not himself have known it. But we do not 
apprehend his denial in this sense. He knew that they expected 
Elias to appear in person, and he declared that he was not Elias 
in the sense in which the question was asked ; though in another 
sense he was that Elias, of whose coming, as the precursor of 
Christ, the prophet Malachi had spoken. 



ZACHARIAS. 17 

TWENTY-SEVENTH WEEK— TUESDAY. 

ZACHARIAS. LUKE I. 5-10. 

The circumstances which preceded and attended the appearance 
of John the Baptist, are more extraordinary and wonderful, 
than had ever accompanied the birth of any person who had 
hitherto appeared in the world : and this may well suggest the 
reflection, that seeing how solemnly the appointed harbinge is 
brought into the world, how great was He of whose appearance 
this man was but the herald ! We judge of the greatness of a 
king by the rank and magnificence of his ambassador ; and it 
ought to assist us to some adequate conception of our Lord's 
essential greatness, to note that, among men of woman born, 
there has not been a greater than the man who heralded his 
approach ; although it be true that the least in the kingdom 
of heaven was greater than he. 

The father of John was an aged priest " of the course of 
Abia," which is the same as the Abijah of the Old Testament. 
This may need some explanation. When the priests had be- 
come numerous, David divided the whole body into twenty -four 
classes or " courses," which were appointed to do service in 
weekly rotation, so that each of the courses had to attend at 
the temple twice in the year for a week each time. Of the 
twenty-four courses, that of Abijah was the eighth. Of the 
number that went into captivity, only four of the courses re- 
turned, and that of Abijah was not one of them. But these 
four were divided into twenty-four, in order to reproduce the 
former distribution, and to render the analogy more complete. 
These courses received the same names as the original courses, 
— and hence it is that we find the course of Abia named in 
the New Testament. Even this division, however, proved 
eventually insufficient for the designed object of keeping the 
number of priests in actual official duty within some bounds. 
Josephus affirms that there were as many as 4000 in some of 
the courses ; so that, being too numerous for duty, the course, 
when it came up in its turn, was subdivided into seven families, 



18 



TWENTY-SEVENTH WEEK TUESDAY. 



each of which took a day's duty, so that every one might tako 
part in the duties of his office. This practically reduced the 
time of actual service for each priest to one day during the 
week of the course, and to two days in the year. 

Each of these courses had a chief or president, which are 
called in Ezra the " princes," or " chiefs of the priests," and 
which are probably the same as the " chief priests" so often 
mentioned in the jSTew Testament. 

When a "course" came up to relieve the one that had 
served the preceding week, the particular services of the 
priests were determined by lot. Certain services were ac- 
counted more honorable than the others, and in this way all 
contention respecting them was avoided. The most honorable 
of all was that of going into the holy place to offer incense 
upon the golden altar. And on the occasion before us this 
distinguished office devolved upon the aged Zacharias. 

The service was performed twice every day, just before the 
morning and evening sacrifice, — that is, at nine in the morn- 
ing and three in the afternoon ; and the time of offering the 



m* 




incense was also the time of prayer, — sweet fumes of the 
ascending incense being indeed representative of the prayers 
cf the people ascending to God. So, when the priest entered 



ZACHARIAS. 19 

fche holy place to offer the incense, the sound of a small bell 
notified to the assembled people that the time of prayer was 
come. When this was heard, the priests and Levites, who 
had not taken their stations, hastened to do so ; the space in 
the court between the great altar of burnt-offerings and the 
porch of the Lord's house was cleared ; and the people, in the 
different courts of the temple, "stood and prayed." The 
prayers were perfectly silent, as in the parable of the Pharisee 
and Publican ; and to the deep silence which pervaded the 
great congregation in this solemn moment, there is an emphatic 
allusion in the apocalyptic vision (Rev. viii. 1, 3), when he 
who beheld it declares, " there was silence in heaven about the 
space of half an hour," while the angel offered incense — " the 
prayers of the saints" — on the altar before the Throne. This 
lasted so long as the priest remained within the temple ; but 
the instant he re-appeared, the sacrifice was laid upon the altar, 
and the Levites commenced their psalmody and the sounding 
of their trumpets. 

The re-appearance of the priest was always awaited with 
much interest, and the least delay beyond the time usually 
occupied occasioned anxiety and alarm. Indeed, the priest 
always endeavored to make his stay within as short as became 
the seemly discharge of this solemn function ; for he knew 
that if his stay were protracted, the worshippers without would 
be in fear lest some judgment from the Lord, on their account 
or on his own, had befallen him there, which would have been 
regarded as a national calamity, seeing that he stood for the 
time as the representative of the people. 

Such anxiety and alarm they at this time experienced ; for 
the stay of Zacharias within the temple was unusually pro- 
tracted, — not long, in fact, but long to those who stood without 
anxiously counting every moment. At length he appeared. 
And then his strange and excited aspect showed that some- 
thing had indeed happened to him in the sacred place ; but 
when questioned concerning it, they could obtain no answer — 
for he was dumb. He was not, however, deaf; and from the 
signs with which he met their questions, it was found that he 



20 TWENTY-SEVENTH WEEK WEDNESDAY. 

had seen a vision in the temple. That it had been there, must 
have invested that spirit with unspeakable and mysterious im- 
portance in their eyes; for it will be remembered that the 
interior of the temple was never visited, or even seen, by the 
people ; so that the mere idea of the interior was an awe and 
a mystery to them. The priests only might enter, and they 
only a few at a time, for the discharge of certain duties about 
the lamps and the shew bread, and one only at the time of 
offering incense. Besides which there were the deeper mys- 
teries of the inner sanctuary, inaccessible even to the priests, 
and which the high-priest alone might enter but once in the 
year. All this could not but create the impression, that the 
vision which had produced effects so signal upon the aged 
priest, could hardly be one of private interpretation ; but must 
involve some matters of deep public concern, strengthening the 
desire to learn more than Zacharias could now disclose, and 
fixing the minds of the people with strong interest on the 
result. 

It is observable, that on this day there was " a multitude 
without at the time of offering incense ;" which has suggested 
the probability that it was the Sabbath-day ; as it is known 
that on this day only did a multitude of people attend the 
temple services. A few devout people were present on other 
days ; but besides them, the congregation was then composed 
of the priests, the Levites, and a number of persons called 
" stationary men," who were considered to represent the 
people. 



TWENTY-SEVENTH "WEEK— WEDNESDAY. 

THE VISION. LUKE I. 5-25. 

And what had Zacharias seen in the temple ? 

The dumbness with which he was smitten did not neces- 
sarily preclude him from making known the particulars in 
writing ; and the eagerness of both priests and people to learn 



THE VISION. 21 

what had taken place, probably urged him to an early dis 
closure. Indeed, he must himself have felt it due to them tc 
make known at the earliest moment the glorious tidings which 
had been entrusted to him ; and the prediction involved might 
seem to be shorn of some of its evidencing power, if not dis 
closed before the signs of fulfilment appeared. 

But still, what was it he had seen ? 

An angel standing on the right side of the altar. 

The altar of incense stood close by the vail which divided 
the holy place from the most holy ; on the north stood the 
table of shew bread, on the south the golden candlestick ; and 
as the priest entered with his face to the west, the angel must 
have stood to the north, or near the table of shew bread. 
Whether the angel was already visible when Zach arias came 
in, or afterwards suddenly appeared, has been questioned. It 
seems to us, however, likely that the angel did not appear until 
after the priest had performed his usual sacerdotal duties. For 
this there are two reasons : one, that the prior appearance of 
the angel would have discomposed the aged priest, if not dis- 
abled him for the discharge of his duties ; and the other, that 
the angel distinctly announced his appearance to be an answer 
to prayer, which declaration would have come with tenfold 
emphasis after the incense, embodying the prayers of the peo- 
ple, had been offered. 

Zacharias was much terrified when he beheld the angel, 
anticipating from him much rather harm than good. Besides, 
the idea of an angelic visitant, so familiar to this people in their 
early history, had from disuse become a strange matter to them. 
In the presence of angels they believed in the fullest extent ; 
but of their manifested presence, there had long ceased to be 
any authentic examples. The actual appearance of an angel 
was therefore a more signal and alarming event than it might 
have seemed in earlier times. The trouble of the good old 
priest was so manifest, that the heavenly messenger hastened 
to relieve his fears. " Fear not, Zacharias, for thy prayer is 
heard !" What prayer ? From what follows — that his wife 
Elisabeth should bear a son, to be called John — it has been 



22 TWENTY-SEVENTH WEEK WEDNESDAY. 

thought that it refers to the prayers which he was likely to 
have frequently offered, that he might not go down childless 
to the grave. But, on the other hand, the time and place of 
the angel's appearance being considered, it has appeared to 
many that the angel rather refers to the national prayer, offered 
by him in his ministerial capacity for the appearance of the 
Messiah. For he goes on to explain that this son was His 
appointed harbinger. Thus laying the stress rather upon the 
fact of the Messiah's coming, than of a son being born to 
Zacharias — a secondary consideration, though a very important 
one to him. We incline to this view ; and the rather so, as 
the sheer incredulity with which the old man received the 
announcement, as of a thing scarcely within the bounds of 
physical possibility — would suggest that he had ceased to hope 
or to pray for such a blessing. 

The angel went on to tell him that this son, who, like Sam- 
son, was to be consecrated to God as a Nazarite from the womb 
— was appointed to raise the minds of the people to vital 
righteousness, and thereby prepare the way for the One mightier 
than he, whom it was his vocation to announce. Further, to 
rebuke Zacharias for the incredulity he had ventured to ex- 
press, as well as to be a sign to himself and others, he was to 
be afflicted with dumbness till that of which he doubted was 
actually fulfilled. 

This dumbness, doubtless, disqualified him for the exercise 
of his priestly office, at least as to the offering of incense ; and 
we are not to infer the contrary from his remaining to the end 
of the week, when his " course" completed its services ; for, 
according to the explanation yesterday given, his actual service 
was limited to the day on which the angel appeared to him. 

At the end of the week Zacharias left Jerusalem, and re- 
turned to his usual abode in the southern part (" the hill coun- 
try") of Judea. This is generally thought to have been Hebron, 
which was originally a Levitical city. The priestly families 
did not indeed resume the exclusive occupation of the old 
sacerdotal cities after the return from the captivity — but the 
mere fact would naturally lead them to settle down by prefer- 



GABRIEL. 23 

ence in those towns. Yet, as there seems no reason why He 
bron should not be named in the subsequent reference (verse 
39), to " a city of Juda," if it had been the city of John's birth, 
it has been supposed by many learned men, after Reland, that 
the right reading is Juta, or Jutta, which is mentioned in Josh. 
xv. 55, xxi. 16, as a city of the priests in the mountains of 
Judah, south of Hebron. This place still subsists under th<? 
name of Yutta, having the appearance of a large modern 
Mohammedan town, on a low eminence, with trees around. 
We owe this information to Dr. Robinson, who passed it at 
some distance, and whose guide informed him that there were 
found here old foundations and walls. 

The promise made to Zacharias now began to be accom- 
plished ; and during the first five months of her pregnancy, 
his good old wife Elisabeth, instead of gadding about to call 
all her neighbours to rejoice with her over the prospects of 
maternity which opened to her, kept herself closely secluded— 
either to avoid the curious inquiries of her neighbors in these 
jealous or perilous times, or because she deemed a devotional 
and thankful retirement best suited to her condition, as she 
favored mother of a son so sacredly set apart for a holy life, 
and for high and honored duties. 



TWENTY-SEVENTH WEEK— THURSDAY. 

GABRIEL. LUKE I. 26. 

The angel who brought to Zacharias " these glad tidings," 
disclosed to him his name : " I am Gabriel, that stand in the 
presence of God." 

We have heard of this angel before ; and we lose something 
unless we look back to the circumstances with which he was 
previously connected. This, then, was the same angel who 
appeared to Daniel, to explain to him the time that was to 
elapse until the coming of the Messiah — until the time came 
■ l to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up the vision 



24 TWENTY SEVENTH WEEK THURSDAY. 

and prophecy, and to anoint the most hoty." Dan. ix. 21-2*7. 
This being the case, we at once see the special and emphatic 
fitness that the same angel should be employed to -announce 
the new accomplishment of that which he had so long ago 
predicted ; and as the prophecy in question was at this time 
deeply studied by the Jews, and, indeed, led them to entertain 
the belief that the time of the Messiah was then close at hand, 
we may understand the emphasis and reassuring significance 
of the information, that he was the same angel through whom 
the ancient announcement had been made, and the authority 
which this fact would give to his present intimation in the eye? 
of the people when these circumstances transpired. Hence, we 
may be sure that when Zacharias came to describe these cir- 
cumstances fully, he did not fail to give due prominence to the 
fact, that it was no other than the same angel Gabriel who had 
formerly announced the time of the Messiah to Daniel, who 
had now appeared to make known the completion of that time 
to himself. Angels have feelings ; and it was doubtless a 
gratification to Gabriel to be employed on messages vindicatory 
of the prediction which had in old time been given by himself; 
and it may have been partly in regard to this gratification to 
him, that his and our gracious Lord intrusted this mission to 
him. Nor this only. For it is the same angel who was sent, 
a few months later, to announce the birth of the Messiah him- 
self, as now of his Iru binger. The same considerations apply 
to both transaction'). Tn connection with them the name of 
Gabriel was a namo oi power, in consequence of his former 
revelations to the proves Daniel. 

This is all we auxhei'.ically know of Gabriel ; but then 
his repeated appearances, and the fact that he is the only one 
of the angels who conspicuously appears by name in the New 
Testament, have r<>jidored that name more familiar to us than 
that of any other 'Jtgel. In fact, there is only one other angel 
"Those name is given in canonical Scripture ; and that is Mi- 
chael, who is described in Dan. x. as "one of the chief prin- 
ces," and as having special charge of the affairs of the Jewish 
lation. Tn Jude 9. the same angel is introduced as disputing 



GABRIEL. 25 

with Satan aoout the body of Moses ; and in Rev. xii. ?-9, 
Michael and bis angels are represented as warring with Satan 
and his angels in the upper regions, from which the latter are 
cast down to the earth. On the authority of the first of these 
texts, the Jews made Michael not only one of " the seven arch- 
angels," (of whom Gabriel is held to be one,) but the chief of 
them ; and, on the authority of all these texts taken together, 
Christian interpreters have been disposed to acquiesce in this 
conclusion. 

But although these two only are named in the canonical 
books, several other names occur in the Apocrypha, and have 
been adopted into the popular angelology. One named Ra- 
phael is very conspicuous in the singular story of Tobit, from 
which circumstance — from the frequent use of his name by 
the old diviners by crystals and the like, who professed to act 
much under the influence of angels, and, with us, from the 
conspicuous part Milton has assigned to him in "Paradise 
Lost," as the friendly instructor of Adam, — the name of Ra- 
phael has become almost as familiar as the names of Gabriel 
and Michael. 

The book of Esdras furnishes us with the further names of 
Uriel, of Jiremiel, an archangel, and also of Sealthiel. The 
Jewish rabbinical writers, however, give us many more names 
of angels, which they pretend to have received by tradition 
from the fathers. Indeed, their cabalistical writers inform us 
that the names of the angels are contained mystically in the 
Scriptures, and that " the wise" can discern them there. 

On the other hand, there are those who doubt that angels 
have any proper names. This is the view taken by a writer 
who has devoted a volume to the subject of angels.* He 
argues, that although names do appear in Scripture, " they are 
names given those angels, not as their proper names, but as 
names that suited such messages as they were then sent on, 

* IiNETMATOAOriA : Or a Discourse of Angels. London : Print 
ed for Thomas Parkhurst, «c the Bible and Three Crowns, 1701. The 
learned author's name does not appear in any part of the work ; bui 
our copy is lettered Saunders' Angels. 

vol. nr. 2 



26 TWENTY-SEVENTH WEEK THURSDAY. 

and did as properly belong to other angels when sent on like 
messages. Gabriel signifieth the power or strength of God, 
—and the angel is so called when sent to declare the great 
power of God ; Michael signifieth, who is like unto God, — 
that is, so strong as to be able to contend with Him ; and so 
the angel is called when sent to fight for God's people, and to 
oppose the devil and his angels. In like manner, that angel 
mentioned in Tobit is called Raphael, because he was sent to 
heal, (as you read in that history,) and so the word signifies. 
These were not names perpetually belonging to those individ- 
ual angels, as their proper names, but names given them as 
appearing in certain ministeries suiting such names. And 
when any other angels are sent about the like services, those 
names do as properly belong to them." 

This is an ingenious view, and entitled to consideration. It 
even obviates some difficulties; but, upon the whole, there 
seems to us grounds of preference for the opinion, that the 
names given are actually proper names. "Without this, indeed, 
the significance we have deduced from the employment of Ga- 
briel on the present occasion, would fall to the ground. 

"We may add, that the name of Gabriel, by reason of the 
prominent manner in which Mohammed brings him forward 
in the Koran, is now more familiar than that of any othei 
angel in the Moslem East. Indeed, Mohammed pretended 
that Gabriel was the medium of his intercourse with heaven, 
and brought to him the revelations which the Koran embodied ; 
and it was Gabriel who conducted him to heaven, mounted on 
the marvellous beast Al-Borak. Mohammedans believe, as we 
do, that this angel announced the birth of Christ to Mary his 
mother ; and curiously enough, they claim his special patron- 
age of the Moslems, on the ground that he served the Messiah, 
whom they reverence,* and as an enemy of the Jews, who 
rejected Him. They call him " the faithful Spirit ;" while the 
Persians, by a metaphor strange to us, but significant to them, 

* The Moslems reverence Jesus as a great prophet, but abhor his 
being accounted as the Son of God, which they regard as the error of 
bis followers, and not as his own claim. 



NAZARETH. 2 7 

designate him as " the Peacock of Paradise ;" and in the second 
chapter of the Koran we read, " Whosoever is an enemy of 
Gabriel shall be confounded." The Jews they suppose to be 
his enemies, on account of the part he took in introducing the 
Messiah ; and he their adversary, on account of their rejection 
of Jesus. 



TWENTY-SEVENTH WEEK— FRIDAY. 

NAZARETH. LUKE I. 26. 

Six months had not expired before the angel Gabriel again 
made his appearance ; and this time his visit was to Nazareth. 

This was an obscure place in Galilee, which owes all its 
renown to that event which the angel went there to announce. 
It is not mentioned in the Old Testament ; nor does its name 
occur in the ancient non-scriptural writings of the Jews, except 
to mention it as the birth-place of Jesus. Yet it had a soit of 
notoriety — in fact, it was infamous. This we gather from the 
Gospel itself ; for when the Jews were told that Jesus M the 
Prophet of Galilee" was of that place, — " Can any good thing 
come out of Nazareth ?" was the prompt and contemptuous 
answer — showing, more expressively than any detailed expla- 
nation, the evil fame which Nazareth had acquired. 

What was the character of this ill-repute we know not pre- 
cisely. Perhaps it merely showed the sovereign contempt 
with which the people of Judea and Jerusalem looked down 
upon all the inhabitants of Galilee, in which district Nazareth 
was situated. As the public morality of the country was in 
that age low, the stigma was probably not one of moral degra- 
dation, but perhaps such as resulted from the turbulent and 
refractory character which the inhabitants bear to this daj . 

The place lay about six miles north-west from Mount Tabor, 
and about twenty-five miles from the south end of the Lake 
of Tiberias, and was within the ancient limits of the tribe of 
Zebulun. The place is still, as probably at the time of the 



28 TWENTY-SEVENTH WEEK FRIDAY. 

angel's visit, a large village or small town, situated upon the 
slope of one of the hills which enclose a hollow, or valley. 
This vale, which is about a mile long, by half a mile broad, 
resembles a circular basin shut in by mountains. It is a 
pleasant spot, and one might almost think that the fifteen 
mountains which enclose it had risen around to guard it from 
intrusion. It is as a rich and beautiful field in the midst of 
barren mountains, abounding in fig-trees, and showing many 




small gardens with hedges of the prickly pear, while the rich 
dense grass affords an abundant and refreshing pasture. The 
town stands at the left or western end of the vale, and com- 
mands a view over the whole of its beautiful extent. The 
town itself, as beheld from the valley, or from the enclosing 
hill, is very picturesque, backed as it is by high cliffs, and ap- 
proached from under the shade of spreading oaks, with sub- 
stantial-looking houses of stone, the square massive walls of 
the church and monastery, and the graceful minarets of two 
mosques, interspersed with, and here and there overtopped by, 
the tall spiral forms of the dark green cypress trees. 

The stone-built houses are mostly two stories high, and flat 
roofed. The streets are necessarily steep from the inclination 
of the hill ; narrow from local custom, and dirty from the 
looseness of the soil. The convent just mentioned belongs to 
the Latins (Roman Catholics), and is one of the largest and 
most commodious in the Levant. The church of the annun- 
ciation, connected with it, is also the finest in Syria, after that 
of the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem. The Greeks, too, have 



NAZARETH. 29 

a church, and the Maronites have another — two-thirds of the 
inhabitants (2,000 out of 3,000) being Christians. The Moslem 
mosque is, however, the most conspicuous building, sending its 
tall minarets, surmounted by the crescent, aloft from the centre 
of the town, as if to announce the triumph of its dominion to 
those approaching from afar. 

Such, then, was the spot to which the angel repaired ; and 
it was amid these scenes that our Lord spent the first thirty 
years of his life on earth. "The principal outlines of the 
picture cannot have greatly varied since it was the earthly 
residence of Him, ' who, though he was rich, yet for our sakes 
became poor, that we through his poverty might be made 
rich ;' thirty years sanctifying it with his presence, as He now 
fills all worlds with his essential glory."* 

A distinguished German, who travelled for the purpose of 
seeking and examining manuscripts of the Holy Scriptures, 
has given us a very interesting record of the impressions made 
upon his mind at Nazareth. It was difficult, he remarks, to 
find the most beautiful view of Nazareth, as it had from all 
parts a picturesque and beautiful effect. He delighted most, 
however, in the view which he obtained in wandering over the 
eastern heights opposite the city. " Two thousand years," he 
observes, "may possibly have changed much ; but as much as 
I saw to-day must also have been spread out before the divine 
eye of the son of Joseph of Nazareth. How often may He 
not have wandered where I was now wandering ; his sacred 
heart full of his great future work — full of the conception of 
his doctrine, which, from the narrow mountains of his little 
home, should fill all the mountains and all the seas of the 
earth, and every land and every heart!" 

He goes on to inform us, that opposite to him on the west 
lay the crown of all the heights about Nazareth. From the 
Turkish sepulchre upon it, it is called by the name of the 
Moslem saint or prophet (Neby) Ismael. Thither he went, 
knowing beforehand what splendor awaited him there, espe 

* Beldam, Italy and the East, \\. 177. 



30 TWENTY-SEVENTH WEEK — FRIDAY. 

ciaJy as, that day, the sky was almost cloudless, and the 
ati.aosphere perfectly clear. 

-'A few months before I had stood upon the loftiest 
pyainid, with the desert, the Nile, and Cairo at my feet. 
I had since stood upon Sinai, the majestic mountain of the 
Lord, and had thence petitioned Heaven itself, like a bosom 
friend ; from the minaret at the summit of the Mount of 
Olives, I had viewed at once the Holy City, with Bethlehem's 
heights and the mountains of Samaria, the wonderful sea of 
So< lorn, and the mountains of Moab ; yet to-day I felt as a 
chi.d who had yet seen nothing but his own home, and knew 
nothing of the world. I was thus overwhelmed by the view 
fro 21 Neby Ismael, which, crowns the heights of Nazareth. I 
looked towards Tabor in the east, the lesser Hermon and 
O-ilboa peered upwards in its vicinity, and guided me to the 
mountains of Samaria in the south. Thence I looked towards 
the west, and beheld the forelands of Carmel ; and, in the blue 
dis :ance, Carmel itself. Amid all these mountain heights, the 
bread plains of Esdraelon reposed before me, as if encircled 
by eternal walls. But beyond Carmel, to its left, as well as 
to its right, lay, like a festal day in glittering beauty, the 
mirror of the Mediterranean. In the north a second extensive 
pkin spread forth, with Canna, the little town of the marriage, 
and the ' Horns of Hattin,' where the army of Saladin trampled 
under foot all the conquests of the Crusaders. In the north- 
east, lastly, shone down, like a divine eye, behind desert 
groups of mountains, the summit of the great Hermon, en- 
veloped in its eternal snows ; and withdrawing my gaze from 
those distant scenes, I looked down upon Nazareth, which 
clung, like a darling child, to the hill above which I stood. 

" What were the feelings of my soul during this survey ? 
The admiration and devotion then felt have no words to ex- 
press them ; but a psalm of the inspired David was rushing 
to the lips, to resound to the depths of the unfathomable 
Dcean ; and to ascend to the snowy summit of Hermon. 
What may this watch-tower have been to our Saviour ? A 
symbol of his kingdom upon earth, of the Gospel of redemp- 



THE ANNUNCIATION. 31 

tion, as it embraced heaven, eartb, and seas, with the arms of 
maternal affection ; as it compressed together both the past 
and future, in the one great hour upon Golgotha. The snow 
of Hermon looks like the gray head of Time — like the past ; 
the sea, pregnant with mystery, like the future. Between 
both reposes the present, this dew-drop, reflecting infinitely 
rich images from the rays of the morning sun."* 



TWENTY-SEVENTH WEEK— SATURDAY. 

THE ANNUNCIATION. LUKE I. 26-38. 

If there be joy in heaven — -joy among the angels of God — 
over one sinner that repenteth, we may be sure that it was 
not with indifference, but with glad songs of praise and shouts 
of adoring joy, that the heavenly hosts beheld the great arch- 
angel depart to revisit earth, to bear hither the tidings of 
great joy, — so long looked for, and desired so long. 

This high rank of the ambassador evinced the grandeur 
and importance of the mission with which he was charged. 
The angels knew it ; they knew that it affected deeply the 
most essential interests of the race of man, not only in time 
but in eternity. But to man himself, seeing only its outer 
aspect, the immediate result would have seemed inadequate 
and disappointing. He went not to any of the great nations 
of the earth ; he visited not any of her mighty cities, — not 
Rome, not Athens, not Alexandria, not Antioch, nor even 
Jerusalem : his mission was to a small and dependant country 
— to the most despised province of that country — to the most 
ill-reputed town of that province. Ay, but surely some great 
king had his sojourn there, — or some great prophet, or some 
holy priest, or some sage renowned for wisdom ? Not so. 
His mission was to one of the humblest abodes of that humble 
place ; and neither to prince, to prophet, to priest, nor to phi- 

* Travels in the East. By Coktstantine Tischendorff. London, 
r847. 



32 TWENTY-SEVENTH WEEK SATURDAY. 

losopher — but to a poor maiden of Nazareth, named Mary — • 
which is the same name as Miriam — betrothed to a carpenter 
named Joseph. 

It is no marvel that the damsel was startled when the angel 
presented himself before her in her humble home. Although 
women were then — or at least among the Jews — much less 
secluded than is at present the case in the East, it was not 
usual for a woman to be spoken to, or pointedly noticed in any 
way, by a stranger, or by any but a very near relative. If for 
a damsel to be accosted anywhere by a man unknown, were a 
strange and startling circumstance, much more to be addressed 
by an angel, and suddenly, in her own house. The appear- 
ance of the angel was doubtless human ; and we do not, with 
the painters of pictures, suppose that he exhibited that splen- 
dor of appearance which is usually ascribed to him, and which 
could only have added to Mary's dismay and apprehension. 
Yet, although his semblance was human, we doubt not there 
was that in his air, and in the manner of his appearance, which 
must have suggested that he was a being not of earth ; and if 
she had doubted, his words must soon have disclosed that he 
was a ministering spirit who stood before her. It may well 
be, however, that he manifested such glorious peculiarities, as 
at once made him known ; and if the angel who descended from 
heaven to roll back the stone from the door of our Lord's tomb, 
had his " countenance like lightning, and his raiment white 
as snow," there was no reason why the great angel who came 
to announce tidings of such signal importance should exhibit 
a less distinguished appearance ; unless it be, that in the case 
mentioned the angel assumed the lightnings for the purpose 
of striking terror into the hostile watchers of the tomb. This 
is the more likely, as, when he was seen soon after by the 
faithful women who came to the sepulchre, he seems to have 
laid the lightning of his countenance aside, and appeared only 
as "a young man, clothed in a long white garment." As to 
the wings, which the painters bestow so bountifully, we do not 
believe in them, notwithstanding that the Romish church 
claims to possess a feather which dropped from Gabriel's wing 



THE ANNUNCIATION. 33 

on this occasion — a very pretty pink feather, the real source of 
which naturalists have not yet, we believe, been able to deter- 
mine. 

The announcement of this heavenly visitant to the lowly 
damsel of Nazareth, hailed her as the one of all women most 
favored, who had been singled out for that honor — so long 
coveted by many generations of Hebrew women — of giving 
birth to the Messiah. 

The language in which this was expressed was very plain 
to her, familiar as she manifestly was with the prophecies con- 
cerning Him, and with the expectations which her people en- 
tertained. And, indeed, the general expectation that the Mes- 
siah was then speedily to appear, must in some measure have 
diminished her surprise at the purport of the communication. 
In fact, her astonishment that the choice had fallen on herself 
may have been less even to her lowly mind than is usually 
supposed, for the hope was as open to her as to any other 
Hebrew woman ; and her evident study of the prophecies con- 
cerning Christ, evinces the interest she had taken in the mat- 
ter ; while she must have known that she — however obscure 
her lot — was one of the not large number of women to whom 
the later prophecies had limited that hope. The keen appre- 
hension with which she seized the full meaning of the angel's 
intimations, well shows her preparedness of mind. That the 
Son thus announced should be " great ;" that He should " be 
called the Son of the Highest ;" that " the Lord God should 
give Him the throne of his father David ;" and that "He should 
reign for ever and ever," — nothing of this astonished her. 
But there is one thing that did. She understood rightly that 
this was then to take place; but how that she should become 
a mother, while not yet fully married, perplexed her. And 
observe, she had no incredulity as to the fact itself, but was at 
a loss to know in what manner it could be accomplished. She 
said not, " Can this thing be ?" But, " How shall this thing 
be ?" Like all her people, she supposed, as the Jews still sup- 
pose, that there would not be anything miraculous in the birtb 
of Christ; but that He should be born in ordinary course, itf 



31 TWENTY-EIGHTH WEEK SUNDAY. 

the house, of David. She now therefore learned, and learned 
it with surprise, that the higher functions which belonged to 
Him than the Jews in general recognised, required that He 
should take man's nature on Him in such a manner as should 
evince his heavenly origin. The idea was new ; but when re- 
minded that the power of the Highest was sufficient to accom- 
plish this, she needed nothing more to satisfy her, although the 
angel, to let her see that with God nothing is impossible, dis- 
closed to her the strange fact, that her aged cousin, Elizabeth, 
had conceived a son in her old age, and that it was now the 
sixth month with her who was called barren. 

This was enough for her. To know that the Lord would 
accomplish this, satisfied her that it could be done, though 
contrary to all thought and experience. She questions no fur- 
ther how. It was his will, his purpose ; and it would be ac- 
complished in the way that seemed best to Him. That she, 
who was personally interested in the matter, questioned so lit- 
tle of the mode in which this prodigy was to be effected, is a 
fair lesson to our faith. " The faithful heart, when once it 
understands the good pleasure of God, argues no more, but 
sweetly sets itself in a quiet expectation. ' Behold the servant 
of the Lord : be it unto me according to thy word." 



mary's visit to Elisabeth. — lue:e i. 39-56. 

The intimationwhich the angel had given respecting Elisabeth 
greatly impressed the mind of Mary, and created a strong de- 
sire to visit and confer with that aged relative under the very 
peculiar circumstances in which she was placed. There were 
gi ounds on which she might suspect the actual relation be- 
tween these extraordinary circumstances. She could not but 
know what had happened to Zacharias at the temple ; and if, 
as would seem from her not being already apprised of the fact. 



MARY'S VISIT TO ELISABETH. 35 

the particulars of the vision had not yet become equally notori- 
ous, the information given by the angel pointed, as coining 
from him, a connecting link which she would be anxious to 
trace more fully. 

They were separated by the extent of more than half the 
kingdom ; and we know not precisely how the journey was 
made — except that we are quite of opinion that it was not in 
company with her affianced husband, although the painters 
so represent it. This would have been adverse to the usages 
of the time and people. But the journey might, nevertheless, 
be easily accomplished. Our impression is that she went in a 
party of friends and neighbors to one of the festivals at Jerusa- 
lem ; of which party Joseph, as well as her own immediate re- 
latives, may have been. At Jerusalem she would meet Zacha- 
rias, who, as a priest, would certainly attend the festival, even 
if not on actual duty ; and having made known her wish to 
him, would accompany him when he returned to his home. 

When she arrived, she was hailed by Elisabeth with a most 
unexpected greeting. Much had that aged lady pondered who 
might be that one of David's line, greater than her own great 
tson, whose path he was to prepare. And when this lowly 
daughter of that royal house approached her, the singular 
emotion evinced by the babe in her womb, which a light from 
heaven enabled her rightly to interpret, convinced her that she 
whose womb contained that Mighty One stood there before her. 
To this conviction she gave instant utterence in the joyful salu- 
tation, — " Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the 
fruit of thy womb. And whence is this to me, that the 
mother of my Lord should come to me V Both had been 
highly favored — but Mary most ; and recognising in her the 
mother of Him who was the hope of Israel-^that exalted her 
/oung relative so highly in her eyes, that although in actual 
condition of life superior, Elisabeth felt her comparative lowli- 
ness. The lesser visits the greater ; but here the greater — the 
mother of the Lord — that unborn Lord, to whose presence her 
unborn son renders homage, visits her. One cannot but com- 
pare her declaration with that of her son, when Jesus came to 



36 TWENTY-EIGHTH WEEK SUNDAY. 

be baptized of him in the Jordan : "/ have need to be baptized 
of thee, and comest thou to me /" 

This ample and cheering recognition, on the part of one 
whose counsel she had come to seek, and who could not yet 
have known what had happened to her — stirred the depths of 
Mary's soul within her, and caused her to give vent to her feel- 
ings in a fine hymn of thankfulness and triumph. It is full of 
phrases and images drawn from the Old Testament, and show- 
ing how well she had stored her mind from that holy book. 
Especially does it resemble the song of Hannah, showing that 
her mind naturally reverted to it, as affording much that was 
suited to her own condition, and that afforded adequate expres- 
sion to her own feelings. 

She declares her joy, that from her low estate she had been 
exalted to this high honor. " My soul doth magnify the Lord, 
and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour. For He hath 
regarded the low estate of his handmaiden : for behold from 
henceforth all generations shall call me blessed." And why ? 
not for what she had done, but for what had been done to her : 
not for her own perfections and excellences, but because the 
Lord had given to her the happiness for which so many sighed 
— because his favor had distinguished her. She was a pious 
and virtuous woman, endowed with that lowliness of mind 
which God delights to honor. But she thought not, nor did 
the angel think, nor did Elisabeth think, that on this account 
she had been chosen to honor. She felt that she was a sinner 
before God, and knew that she needed a Saviour. She dreamt 
not therefore of her deservings, but of the favor bestowed upon 
her. This is the burden of all the utterances that are heard in 
connection with this great matter. The angel hails her as one 
" highly favored ;" and all her blessedness she herself claims to 
hold by no other tenure than the sinner who writes, and the 
sinner who reads, these lines. It was because the Lord had 
** regarded her low estate." It was because " He that is mighty 
hath done to me great things ; and holy is his name." It was 
all the Lord's doing, marvellous in her eyes, and she gives Him 
all the glory of : t. If she had set herself down to find out what 



MARY'S VISIT TO ELISABETH. 3^ 

good thing there was in her, for which she had been thus hon- 
ored, she would have shown herself but little worthy of the dis- 
tinction. But she had no such thought — it is all what He has 
done for her and to her, that engages her thoughts. " It is 
not in me — it is in Thee," is the burden of all she says and all 
she feels. 

From her part in this great blessing, her mind reaches forth 
to its infinite and enduring concernment to the world. She 
sees that through this event with which her name is for ever 
connected, the Lord's mercy will come " upon all them that 
fear Him from generation to generation." 

In many past times had God equally manifested his al- 
mightiness; but never so signally as now had He "shown 
strength with his arm," scattering in the imagination of their 
hearts the proud Jews who were looking anxiously among the 
great families of Judah for a Messiah leading them to earthly 
glories, and to the conquest of nations — and little thinking 
that He was to appear from among the humblest dwellings of 
the humblest town in Galilee. But this agreed with his an- 
cient dealings with the house of David, where He had " put 
down the mighty from their seats, and exalted them of low 
degree ;" and still when the hungry come as suppliants to be 
fed by Him, their hands are filled with good things — the 
hungry, to whom bread is life, are fed — while those who come 
with pretensive claims, as already rich, and who ask without 
the sharp earnestness of real hunger, are " sent empty away." 

Having glanced at the Lord's goodness to herself individu- 
ally, at his goodness to all men, she proceeded to celebrate his 
special goodness to his people, a man at last appearing for the 
help of his people according to the ancient promises made to 
the patriarchs. 

Whether she bore in mind that these promises were of 
larger scope than was usually given to them in her time — and 
that in Abraham, not only his natural but his spiritual descend- 
ants — " all the families of the earth," were to be blessed, has 
been somewhat questioned. Some contend that she took the 
narrow Jewish view of the Messiah's functions ; while other* 



38 TWENTY-EIGHTH WEEK MONDAY. 



allege chat her view, spiritually enlightened, was enabled to 
see the utmost consequences of the Messiah's advent. It is 
hard to say. Most of her words will fall in with either inter- 
pretation, and some of them lean strongly to the peculiar Jew- 
ish view of the Messiah's functions. There is no reason why 
Mary should be expected to have clearer views than the apos- 
tles, who did not till after the resurrection entertain any clear 
notions of their Lord's spiritual kingdom. It is reasonable to 
suppose that her knowledge, like theirs, was progressively ac- 
quired. It is true she was taught by an angel ; but the dis- 
ciples, who were taught by Christ himself, continued to retain 
substantially the common Jewish notions of the kingdom He 
was to establish over the earth, restoring the house of David, 
and making the Israelites the ruling people of the world. 

However interpreted in this respect, the language used by 
Mary is that of a humble, thankful, and pious heart, praising 
God in very beautiful poetry — for the piece is poetry, and, as 
usually defined, almost the only poetry that the New Testa- 
ment contains. 



TWENTY-EIGHTH WEEK— MONDAY. 

BIRTH OF JOHN THE BAPTIST. LUKE I. 57-79. 

Mary remained three months with her aged friends ; and 
then, the time of Elisabeth's confinement drawing nigh, she 
returned to her home, probably because their domestic arrange- 
ments, or some other cause, rendered it unfit or inconvenient 
that she should remain longer with them. 

When the time was fully come, Elisabeth gave birth to a 
son ; and her friends and neighbors rejoiced with her, that 
the Lord had shown her mercy in delivering her from the re- 
proach of childlessness. On the eighth day the child was, 
according to the law, to be circumcised, and then, also, accord- 
ing to custom, to receive his name. 

It was proposed by those present to call him Zacharias, 



BIRTH OF JOHN THE BAPTIST. 39 

" after the name of his father." We observe it stated by some, 
that it was usual to name the eldest son after his father. But, 
indeed, it was not only not usual, but exceedingly rare, — s<? 
rare that we do not recollect any other instance in Scripture 
In fact, as the Jews had no proper surnames, and the name of 
the father formed a distinctive addition to that of the son, as 
"David the son of Jesse," it would have been exceedingly 
awkward and inconvenient that both should have the same 
name, in a place where there might be a score of persons bear- 
ing that name, and distinguishable from one another only by 
the combination of the father's name with their own. It 
was, however, done sometimes, and under special circumstances. 
And the very remarkable circumstances under which the 
parentage of this child was given to an aged couple, probably 
suggested this course. Zacharias, it will be recollected, was 
still dumb ; but Elisabeth, to whom he had assuredly ere this 
imparted all the particulars of his vision in writing, insisted 
that the child should be called John — being the name the 
angel had assigned to him. The persons present not being 
aware of the cause, were amazed at this, and objected, that 
there were none of the family that bore this name — an objec- 
tion which shows that it was customary with the Jews, as it is 
with us, to name children after forefathers or living members 
of the family who were held in honor, or to whom it was de- 
sired to pay a compliment. Sometimes names were given 
after persons not of the family, who were held in high esteem ; 
and by this time, the custom of giving at circumcision names, 
selected with a reference to their significance, seems to have 
nearly passed away. 

In this perplexity an appeal was made to the father, and he, 
asking by signs for " a writing-table," wrote, " his name is 
John." The writing-table, or tablet, was used much like a 
slate, for temporary use. Sometimes it was of lead, the writ- 
ing on which was formed with a bodkin or stylus, and could 
be beaten out when no longer needed. Sometimes it was 
composed of a thin board covered with wax, on which, also, 
the characters were traced with a metal stylus ; and often it 



10 



TWENTY-EIGHTH WEEK MONDAY. 



was merely a small clean board, on which the writing was 
formed with chalk. Such boards are to this day used instead 
of slates in the common schools of Greece, — the writing being 
washed or scraped off, that the board may receive a succession 
of fresh lessons. This kind of tablet is called by the very same 




name that the evangelist here gives to the writing tablet for 
which Zacharias called. Sometimes these tablets were made 
up into books of three or four leaves, like our slate books. 

At this confirmation by the father of the choice of name 
which the mother had indicated, " they marvelled all." But 
they marvelled more, when Zacharias, whose mouth had been 
closed so long, began to speak ; and his first utterances were, 
as became him, to the praise of the Lord. These circumstances, 
and the words which the father uttered, were heeded with grave 
and surprised attention by those v/ho were present ; and, taken 
in connection with the antecedent circumstances, which now, 
if not before, became publicly known, excited a great sensation 
in southern Judea, and led men to regard the child's career 
with solicitude, and to look for those further fulfilments of 
prophecy in the person of the Messiah with which his destiny 
seemed to be connected and bound up. Thus the infant son 
of Zacharias began " to prepare the way" of the Lord, even 
before the latter had made his appearance in the world. 

The utterance in which Zacharias, when "filled with the 
Holy Ghost," gave vent to his perceptions and convictions, is 
very remarkable, and is clothed in a highly poetic diction, like 



BIRTH OP JOHN THE BAPTIST. 41 

the song of Mary, though, more confined to the indication of 
simple facts. He very distinctly announces the separate stations 
and offices of his son, and of the yet unborn Messiah. For 
John is announced as the prophet of the highest, who " shall 
go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways." What 
follows seems, however, to show that Zacharias had not been 
led into the spiritualities of the kingdom which Christ was to 
set up, much, if at all, beyond the popular Jewish notions of 
the day, — at least such notions are predominant; for he appre- 
hends, that the first object of the Messiah's coming is, that the 
children of Israel " should be saved from their enemies, and 
from the hands of all that hate them ;" that they " being de- 
livered from the hand of their enemies, may serve Him without 
fear." He does, however, ascribe to the Messiah a higher 
nature than the Jews expected for Him, having been doubtless 
led thereto by the communications of the angel to himself and 
to Mary. He saw that He was to be " the day-spring from on 
high," and that the approaching salvation, which his son had 
to announce, consisted in " the remission of sins." We are not 
disposed to take these large terms in the comparatively narrow 
and Jewish sense which some ascribe to them ; for the terms 
that follow are as large as they well could be, — the day-spring 
comes, not merely to meet current expectations, but " to give 
light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, 
to guide our feet in the way of peace." This, in fact, would 
be the proto-evangel, were not the angel's intimation to Mary, 
" Thou shalt call his name Jesus, for He shall save his people 
from their sins," of still earlier date. In our view it is full 
Gospel doctrine, except as regards the atonement, which has 
not yet been fully proclaimed. It represents the people as 
travellers, who, being overtaken by night, and, not knowing 
where they are, sit down in the darkness and wait for the 
morning light, that they may know what to do, and that the 
path of peace and safety may be disclosed. 

Hitherto, therefore, the essential doctrine which we have 
learned is, that the Christ, born of the Virgin Mary, whose 
path the son of Zacharias is to prepare, is " the Son of the 



42 TWENTY-EIGHTH WEEK TUESDAY. 

Highest ;" that He comes to make the way of salvation known ; 
and that the way lies through Him, — for it is He and no other 
who is to save his people from their sins. This is going very 
far beyond the popular notions of that day. The Jews believed 
that he would save them from their enemies ; but they now 
begin to be taught, that their worst and most fatal enemies are 
their sins, and that it is from these enemies the Messiah comes 
to save them. 



TWENTY-EIGHTH WEEK— TUESDAY. 

THE PERPLEXITY. MATTHEW I. 18-25. 

There is no reason to suppose, that the peculiar condition in 
which Mary stood was made known to her betrothed husband 
until after her return to Nazareth. Indeed, as it is clear that 
she paid this visit almost immediately after the announcement 
made to her by the angel, there was little opportunity or 
occasion for such a communication ; and it is quite likely that 
she particularly wished to consult the aged priest and his wife 
on the course which it became her to take under circumstances 
so strange and alarming. Besides, perceiving the connection 
which existed between her case and that of Elisabeth, she would 
naturally wish to defer the communication until the birth of a 
son to Zacharias should, in this connection, afford its corrobora- 
tion to her own recital. Some say that the disclosure was 
made because, on her return, her appearance excited the sus- 
picion of Joseph ; but at a stage so early there is nothing to 
awaken a man's suspicion ; and we doubt not the information 
was given as the result of her reflections, and of the advice she 
had received respecting the course which it became her to 
follow. Indeed, we are not reluctant to suppose, that she may 
have been favored with direction from Heaven ; for if such 
direction was given to relieve Joseph from his perplexity, why 
not to relieve Mary from that under which she must have 
labored ? 



THE PERPLEXITY. 43 

The true state of the case from the beginning was then 
frankly made known to him. He was much startled, and 
greatly disturbed. His emotions were not of joy. To be in- 
deed the father of the Messiah had been a gladness to him, 
under the notions which, as a Jew, he entertained ; but to 
afford merely a nominal parentage to one for whom a heavenly 
origin was claimed, seemed a less distinguished honor. Indeed, 
this claim might have seemed to him to discredit the story 
which had been told him on the part of Mary ; for it is certain 
that the general, if not universal expectation, looked for no 
other than a full human parentage for the Messiah in the line 
of David. That Joseph did disbelieve the account given him, 
cannot be affirmed. He may have had no more than doubts 
and misgivings, but such as one would not wish that his es- 
poused should labor under. We may not blame him. It was 
a hard case. Unless so far as corroborated by what had hap- 
pened to Elisabeth, there was no tangible evidence in the mat- 
ter but that of Mary herself — the party mainly concerned ; and 
there are minds, if such were not his, to which the thought 
might occur, that the whole of this had been invented to cover 
her dishonor. To repel this, rose his knowlege of her ingenu- 
ousness and truth — the purity of her sentiments and character 
— and more than all, the reverent piety which must have ren- 
dered an invention like this a blasphemy impossible to her. 
Still, supposing he had that faith in her truth which compelled 
him to believe the strange "account she had given, was he pre- 
pared to encounter 

" The world's dread laugh," 

in taking to his home one who was in the way to become a 
mother before her marriage with him had been completed ? 

Joseph was a good and pious man, fearful of doing wrong, 
and anxious to do right ; yet these things perplexed him, as he 
considered the question, whether he should complete this mar- 
riage or not. His regard for Mary, and his trust in her, urged 
him one way ; his latent misgivings, and his regard for propri- 
ety, another ; and the result might have been doubtful, had not 



44 TWENTY-EIGHTH WEEK — TUESDAY. 

the Lord's mercy interposed to guide him aright — in answer, 
doubtless, to the many prayers which he offered for that guid- 
ance. 

But it is needful to define more exactly the position in which 
he stood. 

It was customary among the Jews for an interval of ten or 
twelve months to elapse between the betrothal, or formal agree- 
ment to marry, and the actual marriage. But from the time 
of the betrothal the parties became, in the eye of the law, man 
and wife, and were so spoken of, although, during the interval, 
there was no kind of direct intercourse between them : and 
even to be seen speaking together would have been regarded 
as a breach of decorum. These, however, were the usages of 
the higher classes, and were probably somewhat relaxed among 
persons of humbler condition in life, — as is the case with the 
still more stringent regulations regarding the non-intercourse 
between men and women which at this day exist in the East, 
and which anciently imparted some color to the freer customs 
of the Israelites. In fact, in regard to most nations, the usages 
in these matters which become historically known to us, are 
those of what is called good society, and become practically re- 
laxed as we descend the scale of social existence, — partly from 
the circumstances of humble life throwing friends and neigh- 
bors more under each other's observation, — and partly from 
the impossibility of maintaining that seclusion exacted from, 
and only possible to, the wealthy and the great. Still, when 
such regulations do exist, they give the tone to the general 
sentiment of society : and we are willing to believe that the 
hesitation which Joseph felt — and which is creditable to the 
sturdy honor of his character — might have been less, had it 
been more in his power than usage sanctioned, to receive his 
impression of circumstances which concerned him so nearly 
from her own truthful lips, and from the eloquent glow of her 
ingenuous countenance, rather than in the cold abstractness of 
another's recital. For the evidence of the truth, however, it is 
well for us that he did hesitate, and felt the want of higher tes- 
timony than had yet been given to satisfy his mind. 



THE PERPLEXITY. 45 

So real in the eye of the law was the legal relation formed 
by betrothal, that a woman who proved unfaithful to her be- 
trothed husband, was held an adultress, and as such punishable 
with death by stoning.* This law was, however, at this time 
never enforced, either in the case of a fully married or betrothed 
wife ; and, indeed, we find no instance in Scripture of its actual 
enforcement. The law of divorce,f whether so intended or 
not, had the effect of modifying the other law ; for men were 
po generally satisfied with the relief this law provided, that the 
sterner law, not being resorted to, fell into desuetude : so that a 
husband might, if he pleased, pardon the wife's offence alto- 
gether, and abstain from denouncing her before the sanhedrim, 
but scarcely could, if he would, bring her to death. He usually 
divorced her, — and, as a man could practically, in this corrupted 
age, divorce his wife for any cause, or for no cause, a woman 
was not degraded by the mere fact of divorce. The husband 
gave a bill of divorcement ; and, in the case supposed, if he 
wished to be severe, and stated that he sent her away for adul- 
tery, she became a disgraced woman, and a public example. 
But if he mercifully omitted to state the ground of divorce, 
there was nothing that appeared against her, though local gos- 
sip was probably busy on such occasions. 

These facts explain the alternatives which weighed upon the 
mind of Joseph. It is clearly intimated that he was disposed 
to cut the knot of difficulties, by which he was surrounded, by 
divorcing his betrothed wife. He was not, however, inclined 
to " make her a public example," by stating the real cause in 
the bill of divorcement ; but was disposed to arrange the mat- 
ter " privily" and quietly, by refraining from assigning any 
cause for his proceeding. From this it will be seen, that those 
interpreters err who tell us that Mary was in danger of her life 
from any course that Joseph could take. They tell us rightly 
what was the law in such a case ; but they neglect to inform 
us that this law was never enforced. 

Joseph's disturbed cogitations on this matter were, however, 
brought to a happy conclusion, by his being visited in a dream 

— -• John viii. 5. Deut. xxii. 22 f Deut sxlv. 1 



46 TWENTY-EIGHTH WEEK WEDNESDAY. 

by an angel — probably the same angel who bad appeared to 
Mary — telling him to dismiss all fear, and to take home his 
wife ; for her condition involved no stain upon her — being caused 
by the Divine power, which was now about to give effect to the 
ancient prophecies which had for ages formed the hope of the 
nation. The unborn child was to be called Jesus (which means 
Saviour), " for He shall save his people from their sins." 

We may be sure that it was with a glad heart that the good 
Joseph rose from sleep, relieved of the heavy burden of his 
thoughts. If his own dream was to be believed (of which he 
was able to judge), still more was Mary's vision credible. The 
one confirmed and authenticated the other. The usual time 
for taking her home had already come ; and he delayed not to 
afford her the protection which the formal completion of his 
marriage with her would supply. Hence, Jesus came to be 
formally recognised as the son of Joseph ; and his early years 
rested under the shield of a poor man's honor, until the time 
came for Him to assert the claims of his heavenly parentage. 



TWENTY-EIGHTH WEEK— WEDNESDAY. 

THE TAXING. LUKE II. 1-5. 

The fact that Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea is record- 
ed by St. Matthew ; but how it happened that He should be 
born there when Nazareth was the ordinary residence of Joseph 
and Mary, both before and after that event, he leaves unex- 
plained. We are not left in the dark, however ; for this desir- 
able explanation is supplied by St. Luke ; and this explanation 
has suggested doubts and difficulties with which it is well that 
the reader should be acquainted. Indeed, it must not be con- 
cealed that certain misbelievers have employed it for the pur- 
pose of discrediting the historical truth of the gospel narrative. 

What Luke says is : " There went out a decree from Caesar 
.Augustua that all the world should be taxed. (And this taxing 



1HE TAXING. 47 

was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria). And 
all went to be taxed, every one unto his own city. And Joseph 
also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth into Ju- 
dea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem (because 
he was of the house and lineage of David) ; to be taxed with 
Mary his espoused wife, being great with child." 

The leading objection taken to this is that the "taxing" 
(or rather census, registration, or enrolment,)* under Cyrenius, 
here said to have taken place at the time of our Lord's birth, 
and in the reign of Herod, did not really occur till ten years 
later, in the time of his son Archelaus ; and that this is the 
only census taken by the Romans in Judea of which we have 
any information. 

The circumstances of this census are made known to us by 
Josephus. Archelaus had been deposed by Augustus, and 
banished to Vienne in Gaul, leaving much property behind 
him in Judea, and the land without a king. The emperor 
proposed to secure^this property, and to bring the people under 
the condition common among the subject-provinces of the 
empire, — of direct tribute to the imperial government. To 
accomplish these objects, Augustus appointed as president of 
Syria, Cyrenius or Quirinus — a man of consular rank, who 
stood high in his favor ; with orders to sell the property of 
Archelaus, and to take a census of the Jewish people. At the 
same time, J udea was deprived of the forms of independent 
government which it had enjoyed, through Roman favor to 
the Herod family, and was made an integral part of the pro- 
vince of Syria, and so of the Roman empire, with a ruler or 
procurator accountable to the president of Syria — to which 
office one Coponius was in the first instance appointed. In 
obedience to his instructions, Cyrenius proceeded to make a 
census, in accomplishing which he experienced great difficulty. 
One Judas of Galilee invited the people to resist, on the 
ground that the intended assessment was an invasion of the 

* The word may signify simply the act of numbering or enrolling 
the people, or of this enrolling together with the assessment or taxatiop 
founded thereon. 



48 TWENTY-EIGHTH WEEK— WEDNESDAY. 

national freedom. Great excitement ensued; and although 
the right of the strongest prevailed, a popular sect or party 
was called into existence, the presence of which is recognised 
in the New Testament history, and which used every effort, 
and scrupled not at any means, to withstand the Roman 
domination in Judea, and in which originated the occasional 
struggles against its authority ,-^-the final issue of which was 
the rasure of Jerusalem from the face of the earth. 

This census was notorious, and Luke himself, in Acts v. 37, 
records an allusion to it as an event from which men dated, — - 
Gamaliel being represented as speaking of " Judas of Galilee," 
who " rose up" in " the days of the taxing ;" and it is certainly 
incredible, at the first view, that one who speaks in such ac- 
curate conformity with history of this event, should commit in 
another book so grievous an error in reference to it as the 
charge presumes. If the fact were so notorious as this second 
reference implies, it is morally impossible that he could have 
anywhere said that it took place in the days of Herod, when 
everybody knew when, and under what circumstances, and 
with what results, it actually did take place. The same census 
is also indirectly alluded to in its results in the Gospels ; for 
" the tribute money," # rendered to Caesar, was that which was 
imposed in connection therewith. 

But does not the evangelist distinctly say, in the text before 
us, that the enrolment which took place at the birth of Christ, 
was that of Cyrenius ? We have seen that Luke shows him- 
self in the Acts to have been well acquainted with that trans- 
action ; and that its circumstances were too well known for 
any contemporary historian to have stated anything so absurd, 
and so capable of instant detection. 

But if this be not his meaning, what does he mean ? and 
how comes the name of Cyrenius to be connected with a 
transaction that took place ten years before ? If we look 
closely, we shall see that so far from committing the blunder 
which has been imputed to him, the imputation itself grows 
out of the care which he took to prevent any such miscon- 

* Matt, xxii. 19 : Mark xii. 14; Luke xx. 22. 



THE TAXING. 49 

ception. What he positively affirms is, that, in or about the 
time of our Lord's birth, a decree for a general registration 
was issued by Augustas, in consequence of which Joseph 
went, accompanied by Mary, to Bethlehem, to be registered 
there. In recording this, it seems to have occurred to the 
evangelist that, in order to prevent confusion, he should specify 
that the registration, though then decreed, was not executed 
or not carried out to its full results till some years later, when 
Cyrenius was president; and therefore he interposes paren- 
thetically the information, that this registration, though decreed, 
was not fully made until " Cyrenius was governor of Syria." 

But we may be told that there is no record of any previous 
decree for registration taking place at the time mentioned. 
In reply it may be asked, where we might expect to find such 
a record. Certainly not in the Roman historians, who do not 
even mention the great census under Cyrenius, which undoubt- 
edly did take place. Josephus does mention that census, and 
to him, it may be urged, we may look for some notice of this 
earlier registration. But. Josephus continually manifests a 
disposition to exaggerate whatever tended to the exaltation of 
his nation, and to suppress whatever tended to its disparage- 
ment. The completed registration under Cyrenius he could 
not forbear to mention, as it was too notorious, and involved 
consequences too essential to the current of his history. As, 
therefore, the earlier decree was by circumstances rendered 
abortive, and had not become historically memorable, while it 
inflicted upon the nation a serious humiliation at the time 
when it seemed in the enjoyment of high distinction, there 
was every reason why Josephus should take no account of it. 
No Greek or Roman reader would remember a circumstance 
so obscure, and Josephus was the last man to produce it to 
them ; and there was no Jewish reader, keenly alive to the 
national honor, but would applaud him for the suppression. 

It so happens, however, that Josephus, without expressly 
mentioning this decree for registration, does state some cir- 
cumstances which point to this enrolment, and which fix the time 
for it in perfect conformity with the statement of the evangelist. 

vol. in. 3 



50 TWENTY-EIGHTH WEEK — WEDNESDAY. 

He states, "that towards the close of Herod's reign, he 
excited the deep displeasure of the emperor, in consequence 
of some misrepresentations of his eonduot which had reached 
the imperial ear, and which seemed to imply a claim to the 
exercise of more independent powers than became one who 
was really a vassal of the empire. On this Augustus wrote 
him a very sharp letter, to the effect, that although he had 
hitherto treated him as a friend, he should henceforth deal 
with him as a subject." Herod sent an embassy to excuse or 
justify his conduct ; but it was repeatedly refused a bearing, 
and Herod was obliged to submit to all the injuries inflicted 
on him. The chief of these were the initiatory steps for the 
formal reduction of his realm to the condition of a Roman 
province ; for soon after Josephus lets it transpire, that " the 
whole nation took an oath to Caesar and the king jointly," the 
date of which transaction entirely coincides with that of the 
one before us, and is no doubt really the same, as it is known 
that the custom of the Roman census required a return of the 
ages and properties of the persons subject to its operation, to 
be made upon oath. The reason for registering ages was, that 
by the Roman law, males in the subject-provinces were liable 
to a capitation-tax from the age of fourteen years, and girls 
from the age of twelve ; both up to sixty-five years being 
subject to a capitation -tax, or tribute-money. 

The reason that the matter did not at this time proceed any 
further than the issue of the decree, and the initiatory steps 
taken therein, was that Herod, having sent to Rome a trusty 
ambassador, Nicolaus of Damascus (from whose account Jose- 
phus confessedly derived his information), the latter contrived 
to gain the ear of Augustus, and placed the conduct of his 
master in such a light, as mollified his anger, restored his old 
regard for Herod, and, as a consequence, must have induced 
him to recall (or rather to suspend the operation of) the decree 
whicb had been intended for his punishment, and which had 
in fact inflicted a deep humiliation upon him. Ten years after, 
however, the intention indicated in this decree was carried into 
full effect by Cyrenius under the circumstances already described. 



"all the world." 51 

TWENTY-EIGHTH WEEK— THURSDAY. 

"ALL THE WORLD." LUKE II. 1. 

A correct understanding of the- objections to which Luke's 
account of the " taxing" has by some been considered open, 
and the explanation of them, and the answers to them, involves 
so much interesting matter in illustration of the times and 
country, that, although yesterday a sufficient vindication of the 
principal matter was afforded, it may be well to direct our 
further attention to some secondary points which have been 
produced in connection with the main subject. 

It is urged, that from the large expression employed, — " that 
all the world should be taxed," — Luke clearly means, that Au- 
gustus commanded a general census, embracing the whole 
Roman empire. But no such census is mentioned by the 
writers of the period, who simply record separate provincial 
valuations instituted at different times. 

Now, the term employed by the evangelist by no means 
demands the universality ascribed to it. Indeed, the literal 
sense is impossible, as the Roman power did not embrace all 
the world ; and if one limitation is inevitable, another is allow- 
able. It is true, the Romans applied this phrase popularly to 
their empire ; but it is sometimes used, not of the whole world, 
nor of the whole Roman empire, but of a particular country, 
which is the sphere of the individual writer's statement. It 
was thus one of those popular phrases by which particular 
subjects are expressed by universal terms, — just as we say, 
" every body," when we mean many persons of our acquaint- 
ance or neighborhood ; or, as the French use the very phrase 
in question, "all the world," — tout le monde — in just the same 
sense. If we were upon the Old Testament, we could point to 
the fact, that there is but one word in Hebrew for " the earth" 
and " the land ;" and that " the land," i. e., of Israel, is very 
often denoted where " the earth" appears in translations. But 
in the New Testament we have a different language, to which 
the same conditions do not apply ; yet it is true, that even here 



5'ii TWENTY-EIGHTH WEEK THURSDAY. 

the large term, which in Greek denotes " the earth," (^ y5j), i3 
really restricted to a particular country ; as the reader will per- 
ceive by a glance at the texts noted below,* in all of which the 
Greek term for " the earth" is employed to denote the land of Is- 
rael. The evangelist may, therefore, be well understood to mean 
the whole land, — that is, all the inhabitants of the land. This is 
the view we entertain ; and with which all the historical cir 
cumstances to which we last evening referred seem to be in 
agreement, pointing as they do to a provincial rather than to 
a general census. Nevertheless we are not driven to this as 
our only resource ; for, in fact, there are many vindicators of 
the evangelical narrative who maintain that the census was a 
general one. Nothing is more futile than to argue from our 
own ignorance. It is surely most illogical to say, that we do 
not know from profane history that there was a general census 
in the time of Augustus, and, therefore, none took place. It 
is to be observed, that Luke does not say that a census did 
take place : only that it was decreed ; and being only decreed, 
but not executed, the historians whose remains we possess 
might well pass it over. Even the census actually executed 
under Cyrenius is not mentioned by Roman historians ; yet 
those who dare to question the authority of a fact explicitly 
recorded only by St. Luke, have no hesitation in accepting the 
testimony of Josephus in regard to a fact which he alone 
expressly records, — thus allowing to that easy-minded historian 
a w r eight of authority denied to the inspired evangelist. But 
further to illustrate the futility of the argument from the 
silence of history : By the same process of argumentation, it 
might be denied that any geometrical survey of the Roman 
empire took place in the time of Augustus ; for no such survey 
is mentioned in contemporary history, — while yet the fact that 
it did take place, is established by the allusions of later and 
non-historical authors. If the geometrical survey is passed 
over by contemporary historians, is it any way strange that a 
census should be left unrecorded ? The only authors extant 

* Matt. v. 5 ; xxvii. 45. Mark xv. 33. Luke iv. 25 ; xxi. 23, 35 ; 
xxiii. 44. Eph. vi. 3. James v. 17. Rom. ix. 28 ; comp. Isa. x. 23. 



"ALL THE WORLD. 53 

from whom a notice of a general census might be expect- 
ed, are Tacitus, Dio Cassius, and Suetonius ; but the Annals 
of Tacitus do not commence till the reign of Tiberius. In 
Dio's history there is a chasm between the years of Rome 748 
and 752, and it is in this interval that the birth of Christ falls. 
Suetonius certainly makes no mention of a census ; and he is 
thus the only authority on whose silence the lack of evidence 
from antiquity rests. There are still, however, some traces 
which indicate the probability of such a census ; and it is not 
unlikely that some distinct mention of it may yet be found. It 
is, for instance, stated by all the authorities lately named, that 
Augustus left behind him,. written in his own hand, a libellus, 
or outline of the empire, which contained statements of the 
public wealth, the number of the citizens, and of allies in arms ; 
how many were the fleets, the kingdoms, the provinces, tributes 
or taxes, as well as burdens and benefactions. Can a state 
paper of this character have had any other foundation than a 
general census or registration of the people, with valuation of 
fixed property ? and may this not, in the highest probability, 
have been connected with, or formed part of, the same opera- 
tion which produced the geometrical survey taken in this 
reign ? It is seen thus that even those who allow the largest 
acceptation of the words of the evangelist, are not to have 
their mouths stopped by any arguments the gainsayers are 
able to produce. 

It has further been urged, that the transaction, as recorded 
by St. Luke, has no aspect of a Roman census, but rather of a 
Jewish one, under which the tribal and family distributions 
required the persons to repair to the seat of the family where 
the registers were kept. To this it might be answered, that 
the Roman functionaries requiring the aid of the native officers, 
would naturally allow the latter to follow the course to which 
the nation was best accustomed, and which its internal arrange- 
ments made most effectual in their hands for the objects in 
view. But, in point of fact, this objection is founded on imper- 
fect knowledge ; for there was really not such difference be- 
tween the Roman and the Jewish process as is thus assumed. 



54 TWENTY-EIGHTH WEEK THURSDAY. 

They were not identical ; but the Jewish registration had suf- 
ficient resemblance to the Roman census to expose to derision 
the assertion, that Luke put the customs of a Jewish census 
into a Roman one, for the purpose of sending Joseph and 
Mary to Bethlehem, that he might be able to show that Jesus 
was born at that place, in conformity with the prophetic inti- 
mations. A learned German author,* in a treatise on the 
census, has shown very clearly that it was to the forum originis, 
which may be freely rendered, " the town hall of his family," 
that, during the imperial sway, each citizen was required to 
repair for the purposes of the census. 

It is further objected that, as males only were registered, it 
could not be necessary that Mary should have proceeded to 
Bethlehem along with Joseph for that purpose, — at a time, 
also, when, from her condition, travelling must have been irk- 
some to her. Those who think that Luke meant to say that 
Mary was registered along with Joseph, meet this by alleging 
that she was an heiress in her own right ; and this is really, 
however some may sneer at it, a solid and sufficient answer 
on that supposition. Yet Mary may not have accompanied 
her husband for any such purpose. Luke's language rather 
favors a different opinion. Had he meant to say, that both 
Joseph and Mary went to Bethlehem in order to be inscribed 
in the family registers, he would have used the plural ; whereas 
he limits the remark to Joseph, by the words, " because he was 
of the house and lineage of David." It would seem rather, 
that her " being great with child," is assigned as the cause of, 
rather than the obstacle, to her going. " If her being preg- 
nant was a reason which satisfied Joseph and Mary why the 
latter should accompany the former on a journey which he 
was compelled to take, the only parties were satisfied who 
could judge of what was pleasant or proper in the case. But 
on an occasion when the whole country would, be in move- 
ment ; when homes were left on every side, and the needful 
aid and solace might fail to be found when wanted, in Nazareth ; 
when social disturbances were by no means unlikely, and evil- 
* Huschke. Breslau, 1840. 



BETHLEHEM. 55 

disposed persons might fall on the sick and defenceless who 
were obliged to keep their homes, — there were obviously other 
very strong reasons — besi des their own will and desires — why 
Joseph and Mary should not be separated, and why she, as 
1 being great with child,' should cleave to the side of her na- 
tural protector."* 



TWENTY-EIGHTH WEEK— FRIDAY. 

BETHLEHEM. LUKE II. 4. 

As Jerusalem lay on the road southward to Bethlehem, 
there can be no doubt that Joseph and Mary passed through 
the metropolis, and perhaps rested there overnight in their 
way, unless they arrived there so early in the day as to make 
it worth their while to hasten on to the city of David, which 
was but six miles farther off. It is in fact the first village 
south of Jerusalem, at present, if not formerly, nor is there any 
other village near it; and one scarcely loses sight of Jerusa- 
lem over the long hill before he comes in view of Bethlehem. 

The first appearance of the town is very striking from what- 
eyer direction it is viewed. It is built upon a ridge of consid- 
erable elevation, and has a rapid descent on the north and east. 
The white stone of which the hill is composed, and of which 
also the town is built, gives it a hot and dusty appearance — 
but adds to its imposing character and apparent extent. 

As viewed from without, the town exhibits an appearance 
of beauty and stateliness ; and although, like other eastern 
towns ; it somewhat disappoints, when fairly entered, the ex- 
pectations which the exterior view awakens, the streets are 

* Journal of Sacred Literature. New Series. Oetober, 1851.— 
"Explanation of the Taxing in Luke ii. 1-5." See also Huschke, 

Weber den Census, Breslau, 1840 ; Davidson's Introduction to the 
New Testament, i. 206-214; Pictorial Bible, on the text of Luke; 
Olshausen on the Gospels; Lakdnee's Credibility, Book ii. chap. 1, in 

Works L 260-345, edit 1838. 



56 TWENTY-EIGHTH WEEK FRIDAY. 

found to be, although narrow and steep, more regular than is 
usual in the towns of Palestine, and remarkable for their clean- 
liness. The houses, even the meanest, are well roofed ; and 
those small domes abound, which give to the towns of the 
Holy Land an air of comfort, and even of importance, in strong 
and agreeable contrast with the mud walls and flat roofs of 
Egypt. These domes, however, imply scarcity of timber suited 
for the beams of flat roofs ; and it is likely — indeed it may be 
gathered from Scripture, that when the land was better wooded, 
or timber more easily obtained, flat roofs were common in 
Palestine. 

It is to be understood that the town consists mainly of one 
street. From the gate at the western extremity, to the con- 
vent which occupies the eastern, the distance may be about 
half-a-mile. This convent is that of the Nativity, and is by 
far the most conspicuous and imposing building in the place. 
It covers the spot where it is believed that our blessed Lord 
was born ; and is a very extensive stone edifice, irregular in its 
plan, from having been constructed, a portion at a time, at 
different and distinct eras. The church, and perhaps some 
other parts of the immense pile, was built by the empress 
Helena ; and the whole has the appearance of a strong fort- 
ress. Of this place, and of its claim to be the spot of the na- 
tivity, we shall presently have occasion to write. Whatever 
doubts may be entertained on this point, there can be none as 
to the site of Bethlehem itself. " This was certainly Beth- 
lehem-Ephratah — the birth-place of David; and of David's 
greater son — the Christ — the Lord from heaven. In yonder 
fields, so conspicuous from these hills, the shepherds undoubt- 
edly kept their watch by night, and heard the angels sing, 
1 Glory to God in the highest — on earth peace — good will 
toward men !' and to this very spot were they led to pay their 
homage to the new-born Saviour."* " But its celebrity ex- 
tends far beyond the Christian era ; a thousand years before 
it gave the world the thorn-crowned King — the King of the 
realm of truth, it bestowed upon the house of Israel its royal 

* Beldam, Italy and the East, ii. 59. 



BETHLEHEM. 57 

psalmist and divine hero. Both David and Christ sprung 
from Bethlehem. It was this landscape which their eyes sur- 
veyed when they first opened beneath the canopy of heaven."* 
Still further back than this do the memories of the place ex- 
extend. It was the scene of the events so touchingly related 
in the book of Ruth. It was here that the good Boaz abode ; 
and here the foreign damsel — destined to become, through 
him, the foremother of David and of Jesus — gleaned his field. 
Still earlier, it was here that the beloved wife for whom Jacob 
had served fourteen years, " which seemed to him but a few 
days, for the love that he had to her" — was taken away from 
him, leaving with the mourning father the infant Benjamin as 
the dear pledge of her last hour. It is singular indeed to ob- 
serve how generally the memories of this place connect them- 
selves with women, whose presence impart to these memories 
a tenderness and a pathos which are not at any other Biblical 
site so fully awakened. Rachel, Naomi, Ruth, Mary : what a 
cluster of lovely names connected with Bethlehem, in incidents 
on which the heart loves to dwell ! For other places one such 
name is enough — but here are four : and because of them joy, 
which our own share in the "glad tidings" here proclaimed 
awakens, is followed by a softening emotion, perhaps by a tear, 
as we look up to these white walls, and gaze around upon 
these hills and valleys. 

The inhabitants of Bethlehem are about 1,500 in number, 
and are almost all of them of Christian denominations — chiefly 
Greeks and Roman Catholics, in nearly equal numbers, and a 
few Armenians. There are no Jews, and the Moslems are 
very few. This is the result of the severe measures of Ibrahim 
Pasha, who drove out the Moslem inhabitants and demolished 
their houses during the insurrection of 1834. Hence many 
of the houses are seen in ruins, and the streets in parts en- 
cumbered with rubbish. 

The Bethlehemites are said to be remarkable for their 
ferocity and repacity — which are indeed the common charac- 
teristics of the inhabitants of places accounted holy in the 

* Tisohendorf, Travels in the East, p. 191. 
3* 



58 TWENTY-EIGHTH WEEK FRIDAY. 

East; and the females enjoy a high reputation for virtue, 
ascribed to the favor of the Virgin. However this may be, 
their dress is singularly graceful and becoming — probably but 
little varied from that worn by Naomi and Ruth. The young 
women wear a light veil, or rather hood ; not covering the 
face like the frightful Turkish cimaur, but descending on each 
side the face, and closed across the bosom, and showing the 
front of a low but handsome head-dress, usually composed of 
strings of silver coins, plated in among the hair, and hanging 
down below the chin as a sort of necklace. The mothers and 
aged women wear a longer and darker robe. 

The environs of Bethlehem are very beautiful; but they 
cannot be said to be well cultivated. There is indeed no good 
tillage in the country, though the best perhaps is about this 
ancient town. The soil is fertile, but is encumbered with rocks, 
and the hills and valleys are covered to a considerable extent 
with figs, olives, pomegranates, and vineyards. The deep 
valley on the north side of the town, which is overlooked by 
the road leading to Jerusalem, presents a scene of beauty and 
luxuriance rarely equalled in Palestine. The steep hill-sides 
by which it is bounded are terraced with great care and labor, 
and covered with fine fruit trees. It is pleasant to regard this 
favored spot as a specimen of what may have been the general 
aspect of the hill-country in the prosperous days of the Jewish 
state, and of what it might perhaps once more become under 
the fostering care of a good government, and of an industrious 
and civilized population. But at present it is only under the 
walls of considerable towns that any agriculture is practicable. 
Within not more than two miles of Bethlehem, fields are per- 
mitted to lie waste, which once employed and abundantlj 
rewarded the labors of a numerous and prosperous peasantry. 
Now it would be insanity to till those fields. The Bedouins, 
who are always at hand, seize the fruit and corn even before 
they come to maturity ; and the incursion of a single night is 
often sufficient to destroy the entire product of a year's industry. 
Even in broad day these barbarians do not hesitate to drive 
their beasts through fields of wheat under the owner's eye, 



THE INN AND THE STABLE. 59 

and graze their animals upon them without scruple. Under 
such discouragements, but limited attention is given to agri- 
culture, and the inhabitants rather seek employments attended 
with less precarious advantage. This they find abundantly in 
an active and lucrative manufacture of sundry ho]y trinkets 
and toys, which are eagerly purchased at a price much beyond 
their value by the pilgrims, as memorial relics of their visit to 
the place. These articles consist of models of the cave of the 
nativity, figures of Christ, of the Virgin Mary, of the Apostles, 
and of various saints, with crucifixes, crosses, rosaries, spoons, 
cups, platters, with portions of Scripture inscribed upon them 
in Arabic letters. Some of the articles are wrought and carved 
in mother-of-pearl, with more skill and taste than one would 
expect to find in a place so remote ; and in some cases the 
workmanship is so fine, as would not discredit the artists of 
Britain. The mother-of-pearl is obtained from the Red Sea ; 
and the other materials used for these manufactures are the 
wood and kernels of the olives that grow in and about the 
garden of Gethsemane — agate, jasper, and bituminous lime- 
stone from the rocks to the west of Bethlehem. They supply 
the bazaars of Jerusalem with these wares, and press them 
upon strangers with an importunity that is very annoying. 



TWENTY-EIGHTH WEEK— SATURDAY. 

THE INN AND THE STABLE. LUKE II. 6, 7. 

When Joseph and Mary arrived at Bethlehem, they found 
the place so full that it was difficult for them to obtain any 
accommodation — especially such accommodation as it nov 
appeared that Mary's condition might presently require. 
They did not find such resources as we possess in coming to a 
strange town. There were no inns, in our sense of the word ; 
no lodging-houses ; nor did bills stuck up in the windows of 
" apartments to let," apprise them where they might find a 



60 TWENTY-EIGHTH WEEK SATURDAY. 

room during their necessary stay in the place. The idea of 
giving for hire the accommodation of his private house, would 
have been abhorrent to a Jew of that age, whose point of 
honor was to offer the use of his house and table freely to all 
who happened to be known to him, or who came with messages 
or recommendations from those whom he knew. In an earlier 
age, even perfect strangers might reckon upon being well en- 
tertained wherever they came, being usually invited to his 
house by some hospitable inhabitant, as soon as they showed 
by their manner — as by standing still or sitting down at the 
gate or in the street, that they had no friends in the place to 
whom they could go. This duty was not always readily per- 
formed, as we see in the case of the Levite at Gibeah — (Judges, 
xix. 15) — and as the country became more thickly peopled, 
travelling more frequent, and the habits of social life less open 
and simple, the frequent presence of strangers rendered the 
duty of entertaining them irksome, and instead of rushing to 
be the first to gain the privilege of entertaining them, indi- 
vidual householders held back, for others to take the duty, 
until at last some one, out of mere shame for the credit of the 
place, grudgingly undertook the office of entertainer. 

When this began to be felt, and it was seen by the inhabi- 
tants that the place stood in danger of getting a bad name for 
inhospitality — which would have been a discredit and an in- 
convenience to every inhabitant wherever he went — the first 
remedy thought of would be in that custom which still exists 
in the East, and in the less frequented towns of Palestine, of 
the inhabitants making a yearly allowance to the chief of the 
village or town for entertaining at his house, or in separate 
premises near his house, all strangers that came.* 

Another resource, and the most economical in the long run, 
and therefore most resorted to where the place is, from its im- 
portance or situation, such as to render the visits of strangers 
so numerous as to be a burdensome charge under the other 

* In some cases the chief or head-man is allowed by the general 
government to deduct a certain sum out of the taxes due from the 
place, to defray the cost of enter tainm? strangers. 



THE INN AND THE STABLE. 6] 

plan, is to build in or near the town a khan or caravanserai 
which is a large structure to which the stranger may freely re- 
pair, and find lodging and water for himself and his beast with- 
out charge ;* but must himself provide food for both : and to 
it Joseph and Mary repaired for accommodation. 

Such a building the Bethlehemites had provided for the re- 
ception of strangers. That they did so, would seem to imply that 
they really were strangers in this the native seat of the family 
to which they belonged — and might suggest that they had not 
been born there, and had never lived there. We cannot, how- 
ever, be certain of this ; for as they clearly came very late, 
they may have found the friends they had at Bethlehem 
already over-burdened with guests. 

Whether as strangers, or as guests too late for any other 
accommodation, to the khan they went. But they were too 
late even there ; for all the lodging-chambers were already 
occupied, so that " there was no room for them in the inn." 
What was to be done ? The critical condition of Mary ren- 
dered some kind of shelter necessary, and none but that which 
the stable offered could be found : to the stable they therefore 
repaired ; and it was in such a place that the Saviour of the 
world was born, and it was thus that the manger from whence 
the cattle fed became a cradle for him. 

It is worth while to understand everything rightly in which 
the Scripture is concerned ; and it seems to us that some points 
in this matter have been egregiously misapprehended, for want 
of practical knowledge of the arrangements which belong to 
this matter in the East. 

For instance — both painters and poets make much of the 

"little oxe's stall," 

in which it is presumed that our Saviour was born — the idea 
of such a " stall" being derived from the stables of the humble 
village inns of the West. But the stable in the present in- 

* There is sometimes a small fee expected by the person in charge 
of the place when the traveller leaves. But this is something more 
than nominally "optional" to a native of the country. 



62 TWENTY-EIGHTH WEEK SATURDAY. 

stance was assuredly that of the caravanserai — a large and irn 
portant public building, with a spacious stable for the use of 
the traveller's beasts, for which it was set apart, and where 
therefore oxen or any other than cattle used for travelling do 
not appear. 

The explanation we give of this matter is founded upon 
actual observation, made while ourselves more than once con- 
strained to lodge in the stable, because there was no room in 
the inn, and suggested, in fact, in such a place as enabled us 
to say— In such a stable as this was Jesus born ; here might 
have been an excellent retreat for the Virgin ; here she would 
be completely screened from observation at the time it was 
needed ; and here is the very " manger," which might have 
formed no unsuitable " cot" for her first-born son. 

Let us explain. 

A caravanserai of the kind we have in view, and which we 
regard as most illustrative, presents an external appearance 
which suggests to a European traveller the idea of a fortress, 




being an extensive square pile of strong and lofty walls — 
mostly of brick upon a basement of stone, with a grand arch- 
way entrance. This leads not, as one is prepared to expect, 
to imposing internal buildings, but to a large open area, with 



THE INN AND THE STABLE. 63 

a well in the middle, and surrounded on three or four sides 
with a kind of piazza raised upon a platform three or four feet 
high, in the wail behind which are small doors leading to the 
cells, or oblong chambers, which form the lodgings. The cell, 
with the space on the platform in front of it, forms the domain 
of each individual traveller, where he is completely secluded, 
as the apparent piazza is not open, but is composed of the 
front arches of each compartment. There is, however, in the 
centre of one or more of the sides a large arched hall, quite 
open in front, which serves as the public or travellers' room, to 
which those of the inmates who are socially inclined repair. 
The cells are completely unfurnished, and have generally no 
light but from the door ; and the traveller is generally seen in 
the recess in front of his apartment, except during the heat of 
the day — here he even sleeps at night when the weather allows, 
or unless he prefers the roof of the building. 

Many of these caravanserais have no stables, the cattle of 
the travellers being accommodated in the open area. But in 
the more complete establishments of the kind, there are very 
excellent and spacious stables formed of covered avenues ex- 
tending between the back wall of the lodging apartments, and 
the outer wall of the whole building, the entrance being at one 
or more of the corners of the inner quadrangle. The stable is 
on the same level with the court, and thus below the level of 
the tenements which stand on the raised platform. Neverthe- 
less, this platform is allowed to project behind into the stable, 
so as to form a bench, to which the heads of the cattle are 
turned, and on which they can, if they like, rest the nosebags 
of hair-cloth in which their food is given to them, to enable 
them to reach the bottom when the contents get low. It also 
often happens that not only this bench exists in the stable, 
forming a more or less narrow platform along its extent — but 
also recesses corresponding to these in front of the cells to- 
wards the open area, and formed in fact by the side walls of 
these cells being allowed to project behind to the boundary 
of the platform. These, though small and shallow, form con- 
venient retreats for servants and muleteers in bad weather, bul 



64 TWENTY-NINTH WEEK SUNDAY. 

are little used in the mild season, except during the heat of the 
day. Such a recess we conceive that Joseph and Mary occu- 
pied, with their ass or mule — if they had one, as they perhaps 
had — tethered in front. The recess at the upper end would 
not be passed by any one ; and it might be rendered quite 
private by a cloth being stretched across the lower part. 

This is the explanation with which our own mind has been 
satisfied since the opportunity of actual observation in Eastern 
travel has been presented to us ; and to us it is far preferable to 
any we were able to conceive of the circumstances before such 
opportunity occurred. 



GOOD TIDINGS. LUKE II. 8-20. 

At the time that Jesus was born in the stable at the khan at 
Bethlehem, there were shepherds abroad on the neighboring 
common, watching their flocks by night. Suddenly they were 
startled by the appearance of a most intense brightness before 
them, in the midst of which they discerned a form not of earth. 
They were terrified ; but the heavenly visitant hastened to re 
assure them : " Fear not ;" and to make himself known as the 
messenger of glorious and happy tidings — for them and for the 
world : " Behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which 
shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day, in 
the city of David, a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord." 
And as if at once and for ever to rectify the common notions 
of earthly glory which they, probably, with most of the Jews, 
connected with the appearance of this great personage, the 
angel added, " And this shall be a sign unto you : ye shall find 
the babe" — Where ? Wrapped up in goodly Babylonish gar- 
ments — reposing beneath canopies of state, upon a couch of 
ivory and gold ? Nay, but " wrapped in swaddling clothes, 
and lying in a manger." Familiar with far different expecta- 



GOOD TIDINGS. 65 

tions, did it cast a chill into their hearts to learn that this 
great Deliverer was born into a condition of life no better than 
their own ? It did not. Perhaps this very fact gave a touch 
of tenderness to their sympathies, which had else been wanting ; 
and probably it was in regard to the heart-felt nature of the 
sympathies with which they especially would hail one who, by 
the manner of his coming, announced himself as the friend of 
the poor and lowly, that to these shepherds, rather than to the 
learned or the great, was this proclamation made. To the one 
the swaddling-clothes and the manger had been an offence and 
a scorn ; to the other they were badges to signify that He was 
come — come at last — prayed for and waited for so long — as 
their friend — as one who would be constrained, by his own 
circumstances, to know their state and to feel for them. 

Besides, who could be cold in the presence of that great joy 
which moved the heavens ? For no sooner had the cheerful 
voice of the angel ceased, than there broke in a full chorus of 
Song from " a multitude of the heavenly host." And these 
were the words the uttered — " Glory to God in the highest, 
and on earth peace, good-will toward men." O happy shep- 
herds, who alone among men were ever privileged to hear the 
songs of heaven ! And the song was well worthy of angels, 
expressing the greatest and most blessed things in words so 
few that they become, to an acute apprehension, almost op- 
pressive by the pregnant fulness of their meaning. First, and 
chief of all, glory to God — for devising a means for man's 
renovation and redemption which " the angels desire to look 
into ;" and which they have not failed, and will not forever 
fail, to extol in their songs on high as the most renowned de- 
monstration of the glory of His goodness. Then, peace on 
earth — " for He that was born was the Prince of Peace, and 
came to reconcile God with man, and man with his brother ; 
aud to make, by the sweetness of his example and the influence 
of a holy doctrine, such happy atonements* between disagree- 

* Observe the now obsolete sense of reconciliation, in which this word 
is here used — and which its very texture shows to have been its primary 
signi fication — at-one-ment. 



66 TWENTY-NINTH WEEK — .SUNDAY. 

ing natures, such confederations and societies between enemies, 
that the wolf and the lamb should lie down together, and a 
little child, boldly and without danger, put in the nest and cav- 
ern of the aspick." # It was probably not without important 
significance with regard to this fact that it had been so ordered, 
in the providence of God, that at the time this child was born, 
an unwonted and universal peace pervaded the Roman empire, 
and through its vast extent man lifted not up sword or spear 
against his fellow. Augustus having then composed all the 
wars of the world, caused, in sign thereof, the gates of the 
temple of Janus to be shut up — being only the third time this 
had occurred during the seven centuries which the history of 
Rome then covered. Surely, as the great writer just cited re- 
marks : " It could be no less than miraculous that so great a 
body as the Roman empire, consisting of so many parts, whose 
constitutions were differing, their humors contrary, their inter- 
ests contradicting each other's greatness, and all these violently 
oppressed by an usurping power, should have no limb out of 
joint — not so much as an aching tooth or a rebellious humor 
in that huge collection of parts ; but so it seemed good in the 
eye of Heaven, by so great and good a symbol, to declare not 
only the greatness, but the goodness of that Prince that was 
there born in Judea, the Lord of all the world." 

But the glad tidings which the angels brought to the shep- 
herds was not only matter of glory to God, and of peace to 
the earth, but of good-will toward men. Of that good-will 
the manifest rapture of the angels, at a matter in which they 
had no other than a benevolent concern, nor any other interest 
than that which all pure natures must feel in that which re- 
dounds to the glory of God, is most interesting evidence. Some 
find difficulties in this appearance of the angels, and even say, 
more or less plainly, that they would willingly dispense with 
it. Not so with us. We could not spare it on any account. 
It it were only for this one sentence, their appearance becomes 
most necessary and valuable. There have been times when 

* Jeremy Taylor's Great Exemplar. Loudon, at the signe of the 
Angel in Ivie Lane. 165?. 



GOOD TIDINGS. 67 

the manifest delight of the angels at the tidings they were com- 
missioned to deliver has seemed to us of itself such strong and 
touching evidence of the " good-will towards man" which they 
declared, and has impressed so distinct a sense of reality upon 
all those marvellous things in which, they took part, and of 
that intercourse between earth and heaven of which they are 
the agents, as served to refresh and strengthen our faith, and 
impressed the feeling, that even here we were citizens of a large 
dominion, of which this earth, with all its too- absorbing inter- 
ests, was but a part. It seems to raise one in the scale of crea- 
tion to feel himself thus the object of such sympathising good- 
will to heavenly natures : and their own good-will authenticates 
that good-will — still higher and more precious, the good-will 
of God to man in Christ — in the new-born Redeemer, which 
they proclaimed with so much joy. The intelligence was so 
great, and its significance so marvellously strange in the midst 
of all its impressive earnestness, that it scarcely gained belief 
from a cold or unsympathising messenger ; but these happy, 
rejoicing, thankful angels, carry our hearts with them, and 
convince us that there is, as they declare, good-will in heaven 
towards man indeed. Who can measure the depths of that good- 
will ? The angels even cannot fathom all its depths ; and man 
— how little, too often, does he regard it ; how little does he 
strive to realize an adoring sense of its magnitude ; how little 
to rest in full assurance of faith upon it ! Of this good-will, the 
gift of a Saviour — to those who were otherwise utterly undone 
and lost, was the highest possible manifestation — the evidence 
in which, of love to man, no words can adequately express, no 
heart adequately feel. But if not adequately, we can entertain 
this vast conception vitally ; and to be counted worthy of this, 
is the highest privilege of which our mortal state — or, indeed, 
the state beyond the grave — is capable : and " Behold, how 
He loved us !" — is, probably, the most frequent, as it is the 
noblest, expression of holy contentment and satisfaction in the 
realms of light. 

The good shepherds waited but to hear the close of the 
angels' song ; and when all again was dark and silent, they 



68 TWENTY-NINTH WEEK — SUNDAY. 

hurried away, leaving their flocks behind, to witness at Beth- 
lehem that which the Lord had made known unto them. They 
found the child lying in the manger ; and being thus satisfied 
that the vision of angels, with which they had been favored, 
was no illusion, "they made known abroad the saying that was 
told them concerning the child." This publication, however, 
was probably confined to a small circle, and soon passed out 
of present or active remembrance, — the object being, apparently, 
to secure evidence which might be available hereafter, that 
Jesus of Nazareth was born in the city of David in the time 
of the taxing, and that he was declared by angels to be the 
Christ of God. It is very possible that the shepherds, and 
those who heard their report, supposed that He had perished 
in Herod's massacre, or that they lost sight of Him altogether, 
till he appeared with the claim to be the Son of God ; and then 
all this would be keenly remembered, and produced in corrob- 
oration of that claim. 

Thus, the object of the appearance to them was to make 
them witnesses for Christ ; and to show that the birth, so little 
noted by men, had not passed without heavenly celebrations. 

But why were these poor shepherds chosen as such witnesses \ 
The Lord, who made choice of them, knows. It was necessary 
that the witnesses should reside in or near Bethlehem, — and 
these shepherds alone were abroad and awake in the depth of 
the silent night. Moreover, the Gospel delights to put honor 
on those of low degree. The general yearning for the appear- 
ance of the Messiah, which at this time was felt throughout 
Judea, must have acquired peculiar intensity at Bethlehem, 
where it was known from prophecy that Christ was to be born ; 
and, no doubt, " even among the shepherds who kept nightly 
watch, over their flocks, were some who anxiously awaited the 
appearance of the Messiah. It is true, the account does not 
say that the shepherds thus longed for the Messiah. But we 
are justified by what followed in presupposing it as the ground 
for such a communication being especially made to them ; and 
it is not unlikely that these simple souls, untaught in the tra- 
ditions of the scribes, and nourished by communion with God, 



THE CAVE OF THB. NATIVITY. 69 

amid the freedom of nature, in a solitude congenial with medi- 
tation and prayer, had formed a puier idea of the Messiah from 
the necessities of their own hearts, than prevailed at that time 
among the Jews."* 



TWENTY-NINTH WEEK— MONDAY. 

THE CAVE OF THE NATIVITY. LUKE II. 16. 

Two evenings ago we produced what appeared to us needful 
for the correct apprehension of the particulars given by the 
evangelist respecting the birth-place of our Lord — the stable 
of an inn. We now propose to conduct the reader to that 
which is at this day shown and visited as the spot where Jesus 
was born. 

We have already explained, that what is called the Convent 
of the Nativity, said to contain this interesting spot, is situated 
at the easternmost extremity of Bethlehem. It stands on the 
edge of a steep rock, overlooking a plain of several miles in 
extent, in which, at little more than a mile from the convent 
walls, is pointed out the place where the shepherds kept their 
flocks when the glad tidings of the Saviour's birth was made 
known to them. In this " field of the shepherds," as it is 
called, is a walled enclosure some thirty yards across ; and in 
the centre of it a small cave, formerly used as a chapel by the 
priests of the Greek church. This is called the grotto of the 
shepherds, and is shown as the place where they were abiding 
in the fields. 

The convent has the appearance of a rude fortress, and is 
well suited for defence against all the means of attack with 
which it could be threatened in the middle ages, or now likely 
to be brought against it by its only enemies — the wandering 
Arabs, who might visit it for plunder. It is accessible only 
at one entrance, secured by a massive iron door ; so low, like 

* Neandee's Life of Jems, i. § 17. 



70 TWENTY-NINTH WEEK MONDAY. 

the entrances of most houses, and of all places of defence in 
Palestine, that a tall man must stoop nearly double to pass, 
and even a short man, must enter bent and head foremost, in 
a posture little adapted either for aggression or resistance. 

The church contained in this fortress-convent was built by 
the mother of Constantine, the empress Helena — so many 
monuments of whose zeal are still extant in the Holy Land. It 
is a magnificent structure, though now in a neglected and semi- 
ruinous state. It is thirty -four paces long, and forty broad, orna- 
mented with forty-eight monolith columns of the Corinthian 
order, arranged in four rows of twelve columns each. The 
columns are about two and a half feet in diameter, by more 
than twenty in height. The church was once richly adorned 
with paintings and mosaics, of which only a few mutilated 
fragments remain. The pavement is out of repair. The roof 
is of timber (said to be cedar of Lebanon, but doubted), and the 
naked, rough pavement which it supports has an effect so bad 
and so incongruous, as to suggest that it must be a restoration 
rendered necessary by some casualty, and made in adverse 
days. In fact, the church is now little other than an outer 
court or thoroughfare, through which entrance is gained to the 
smaller churches, and the apartments of the convent. For- 
merly, the sects which claimed interest in the place had the 
use of the church by turns, and then it was kept in good order ; 
but as this bred interminable quarrels among them, it was 
concluded to enclose certain parts as chapels for the separate 
and exclusive use of each : thus, the church being built in the 
form of a Latin cross, the nave is deserted, but the Greeks 
have appropriated the choir to their separate use ; and the 
Latins and Armenians have each a wing of the transept. They 
still, however, have the use of the cave of the nativity, and 
other consecrated spots, according to an established order ; and 
although one might suppose the difference between the old 
and the new style,* by giving to them different terms for the 
celebrations of Christmas, would prevent occasion of collision, 

* The Latins follow the new style ; the Greeks, and other Oriental 
churches, the old. This makes eleven days' difference. 



THE CAVE OF THE NATIVITF. 



71 



the feuds and petty rivalries which are maintained among them 
are most disgraceful to the Christian name -which they bear, 
tnd distressful to the European travellers who visit the place. 
The Latin, or Roman Catholic, portion is the smallest, but is 
the most richly adorned, and it possesses the only organ to be 
found in Palestine. 




The most holy place — the sanctuary — the final object of all 
these arrangements, is a small cavern, in which it is asserted 
that the Saviour of the world was born. This lies under the 
Greek chapel ; but the entrance to which is through a door on 
the southern side of that of the Armenians ; whence, by a flight 
of marble steps, one descends into an irregular apartment, 
which we are taught to regard as the stable in which the 
Virgin gave birth to " her first-born son." Its character as ? 
stable, and even as a grotto, is quite concealed by the ornaments 



72 TWENTY-NINTH WEEK MONDAY. 

and decorations with which, in awfully bad taste, it has been 
overlaid, to the entire disguise of its real character. It is a long, 
narrow, and rather low room, fitted up and much occupied for 
religious worship. Its original features are quite concealed by 
the marbles, embroidered hangings, gold lamps, and other 
adornments, which shock and discourage the belief they were 
designed to foster. The grotto is about twelve paces in length 
by four broad, and contains three principal altars. Under the 
first, upon the marble floor, the precise spot of the nativity is 
marked by a star composed of silver and precious stones, around 
which the following inscription forms a circle : — hic de Vir- 
gins Maria Jesus Christus natus est,"' — that is, " Here was 
Jesus Christ born of the Virgin Mary." Golden lamps con- 
tinually burn over this sacred spot. Above it is a marble table, 
with the usual decorations of an altar in the Catholic church. 
Here the pilgrims prostrate themselves, offering up their pray- 
ers, and kissing the star and the pavement around it. 

A few yards from the star of the nativity is the represen- 
tative of the manger (the original being shown at Rome), in 
which the infant Jesus was laid in lack of a proper crib or 
cradle. One descends by two steps into a room, called the 
Presence, ten feet square, which has the altar of the manger 
on one side, and directly opposite to it another altar, marking 
the place where the magi worshipped. Here, too, the original 
features of the place, whatever they may have been, are dis 
guised by polished marble and other decorat ; ons. The man- 
ger is a block of white marble, hollowed out S proper form. 
It occupies a recess in the grotto, and is less than two feet in 
height, by perhaps four in length. The altar of the wise men 
is fenced by a kind of screen, above which is seen a painting 
that represents them as doing homage, and offering precioup. 
gifts to the holy child Jesus. 

In another subterranean chamber is shown the altar and 
sepulchre of the innocents slain by Herod ; and a preserved 
tongue is exhibited as a relic of one of those infants. An 
altar also marks the spot of the circumcision, and of that 
where the angel appeared to Joseph, warning him to flee into 



THE CAVE OF THE NATIVITY. 73 

Egypt. We are also shown the cell within whose narrow 
bounds, close by the birth-place of his Lord, St. Jerome spent 
so many years of his long life in his various learned and 
Biblical labors, including that translation of the Scriptures, 
which still remains " the authorized version" of the Latin 
church. There, also, is his sepulchre ; but it contains not his 
ashes, which were early transferred to Rome. There, also, are 
the tombs of his disciples, Eusebius of Cremona and the noble 
Roman lady Paula, with her daughter Eutochia. 

These at least are realities, and with the church which was 
built a hundred years before their time, carry back to a remote 
age the tradition, that this was indeed the spot where our 
Lord was born ; and, in fact, the traditional evidence in favor 
of the site is very strong. If real, it would be a miserable 
affectation in those, who think the birth-chamber of one of 
their own noted men, worthy of being sought out and visited, 
to assume indifference to this — unless so far as indifference is 
engendered by the fripperies which have disguised the real 
character of the place. But is it the real spot ? That is the 
question ; and who shall answer it ? The evidence is strong, — 
seeing that the existing tradition can be traced up to within a 
generation or two of the event. The objections urged against 
it are, that it lies beyond the limits of the town, and that it is 
a grotto or rock-excavation. To the former objection much 
weight cannot be given ; for, besides that the exact limits of 
the ancient town are unknown, Scripture states nothing as to 
the precise position of the inn, while custom is certainly in 
favor of a spot near the entrance of, or even outside, the town. 
In almost any other country it might be held a suspicious 
circumstance, that local or church traditions ascribe to grottos 
the scene of so many of the remarkable events of Scripture. 
But here, in this limestone region, natural caverns in the rocks 
abound, and others have been formed, or shaped and enlarged, 
by art. They are still used, as of old, as stalls for cattle, and 
places of shelter ; and it cannot be disputed that, in such h 
country, such caves and cuttings in the rock must always have 
subserved a variety of domestic purposes. In an age when 

VOL. III. 4 



74 TWENTY-NINTH WEEK — MONDAY. 

the population was more dense, and pastoral operations more 
extensive, this use of grottos must have been exceedingly com- 
mon ; and there are probably few rocks in Palestine, rising at 
all above the surface, which have not at some time or other 
been hollowed out for the use of the living or the dead, 
There is, then, no intrinsic improbability in the use of a rock 
stable in the case before us. It is easy to conceive of a cara* 
vanserai built in front of a cavern, which might serve as a 
stable to it. One traveller sees a propriety in regarding this 
as the grotto of " a village inn." But in the East there are 
no village inns like ours — several in a village, each with its 
small stable. There is one inn, or caravanserai — large in pro- 
portion to the village — with a stable, if any, of corresponding 
dimensions ; and although the grotto of the nativity might be 
an adequate stable for one of our " village inns," it would 
hardly be so for a public caravanserai — the sole resting-place 
for strangers in the village. On the other hand, as we lately 
stated, the Caravanserais are often without stables — the open 
area, or the shady side of it, being used as a resting-place for 
the cattle ; and a grotto existing on the spot might be used 
merely as a subsidiary aid to the accommodation of the place, 
without pretending to offer adequate stabling for the beasts of 
all the travellers who might repair thither ; and these would 
be few, except on very extraordinary occasions, such as the 
present. For Bethlehem was too near Jerusalem to be needed 
as a resting-place for those who were journeying to or from 
that city ; and there was no commercial, or other business, to 
draw many travellers thither, except such as visited their 
friends, and who would, of course, lodge with them. Upon 
the whole, the only solid objection to this cavern would be the 
fact of its insufficiency to be the stable of a caravanserai ; and 
if this, for the reasons stated, cannot be insisted on, there 
seems to remain no valid objection against the site which has 
so long been connected with our Lord's birth, and the identity 
of which has only of late years been called in question. A 
belief in the identity of a spot, or a leaning to that belief, may, 
however, be perfectly consistent with the rejection of many 



THE GENEALOGIES. 75 

legends that have been grafted on it. And, in the Protestant 
mind, there can be no other feeling than one of pitying indig- 
nation at the paltry emptinesses which have been gathered 
around this spot, and the trumpery ornamentation, by which 
the cavern has been entirely divested of that natural charactei 
which might have been impressive, by showing or suggesting 
to what lowliness the King of Glory descended when He took 
upon him to deliver man. 



TWENTY-NINTH WEEK— TUESDAY. 

THE GENEALOGIES. MATTHEW I. 1-1 7 ; LUE!E III. 23-38. 

There are two genealogies of Jesus in the gospels, — one 
given by Matthew, the other by Luke. The object of both is 
to show that, according to the flesh, the holy child was lineally 
descended from King David. This fact was often asserted in 
our Lord's lifetime, and never denied by the Jews, — as they 
would have been glad to have done had it been in their power. 
But the case was too plain, being no doubt attested by the 
genealogical lists of the family preserved at Bethlehem. In- 
deed, the fact was so notorious, that Jesus was frequently ad- 
dressed by strangers as " the son of David ;" and the public 
knowledge of this circumstance should always be borne in mind 
in reading the Gospel history, since it materially affected the 
relations in which He appeared, and the point of view in which 
He was regarded by the people. Even apart from the Messiah- 
ship which was to be in that line, any member of the house of 
David, who came forward in a prominent character, would be 
an object of attention and solicitude, as possessing certain here- 
ditary claims to the temporal sovereignty ; and there can be no 
doubt, looking to the circumstances of times, and the unpopu- 
larity of the government, that the people would have thrown 
themselves heart and soul into any feasible, or indeed unfeasible, 
attempt to restore that ancient and popular line. Indeed, al- 
though our Lord was always careful to let it be understood 



76 TWENTY-NINTH WEEK TUESDAY. 

that his kingdom was not of this world, there was a time, and 
perhaps more than one time, when the people would have taken 
Him by force and made Him their king, had He not withdrawn 
himself from public view. Hence, also, the dangerous malig- 
nancy of the charge eventually made against Him, that He as- 
pired to be a king, — which would have been simply ridiculous, 
had not the fact of his being of the royal house of David given 
political significance to the charge ; and had it not been true, 
that a claim to reign on the part of an already renowned mem- 
ber of that illustrious house, would have stirred the heart of 
the nation, from Dan to Beersheba. 

It is true, however, and is evinced by the position of Joseph 
and Mary, that the families tracing their descent from the 
house of David had fallen into poverty, and also into neglect, — 
except in so far as their hopes of producing, at no distant day, 
" the desire of all nations," were recognised. When, after the 
return from the Babylonish captivity, the sovereignty had been 
assumed, first, by the high priests of Levitical descent ; subse- 
quently, by the Asmonean family, and finally, by the house of 
Herod, of Idumsean origin, but engrafted into the Maccabean line 
by the marriage of Herod with Mariamne, it was the most obvious 
policy to leave in the obscurity into which they had sunk that 
race, which, if it should produce any pretendant of the least 
distinction, might advance an hereditary claim, as dear to the 
people as it would be dangerous to the reigning dynasty. The 
whole descendants of the royal race seem to have sunk so low, 
that even the popular belief which looked to the line of David 
as that from which the Messiah was to spring, did not invest 
them with sufficient importance to awaken the jealousy or sus- 
picion of the rulers. 

The fact, that the descent of Jesus from David could be es- 
tablished by registers, and the presence of two such minute 
pedigrees as those of Matthew and Luke, evince that the Jews 
were, up to this time, still careful in the registration of family 
descents. The division of the whole Hebrew nation into tribes, 
and the allotment to each tribe, and to every family in each 
tribe, of its distinct portion of territory, as an inalienable pos- 



THE GENEALOGIES. 77 

session, rendered it indispensable that genealogical tables should 
be preserved. It might seem that the disturbance of this ar- 
rangement occasioned by the captivity, or rather by the fact 
that only two of the twelve tribes returned from Babylon, would 
impair this motive. But the rabbins assure us, that from that 
time they became still more careful in registering their genea- 
logies — with immediate reference, doubtless, to the expectation 
of the Messiah — but with the ulterior object, in the purposes 
of the Divine providence, of preserving means for the establish- 
ment of the exact fulfilment of the predictions respecting his 
parentage. That such registers existed to even a later date is 
shown by Josephus, who declared that he traced his own descent 
in the tribe of Levi by public registers ; and he expressly informs 
that, however dispersed and dispossessed his nation were, they 
never failed to have exact genealogical tables prepared from 
the authentic documents which were kept at Jerusalem ; and 
that in all their sufferings they were particularly careful to 
preserve these tables, which were renewed from time to time. 
Since, however, the period of their destruction as a nation by 
the Romans, all their tables of descent seem to be lost, and now 
they are utterly unable to trace the pedigree of any one Israelite 
who might lay claim to be their promised, and still expected 
Messiah. 

These considerations are more important than they may 
seem at first view ; as they show that, genealogical registers 
being still kept by the Jews, means existed for testing the 
claims of descent which any one might make ; for rendering 
the fabrication of a genealogy impossible ; and (apart from the 
question of inspiration) of furnishing the materials for the pedi- 
grees which the evangelists have given, — thus meeting the 
objections of recent misbelievers who have ventured to insinuate, 
that no materials for such genealogies then existed among the 
Jews ; and that they were made up — that is, fabricated — to 
produce a correspondence with the prophecies, which required 
that the Messiah should be of the line of David. 

But the two genealogies are materially different. They co- 
incide until David, when Matthew takes the reigning line ; 



78 TWENTY-NINTH WEEK — TUESDAY. 

whereas Luke takes the younger and inferior line by David's 
son Nathan. They concur, indeed, in Salathiel and Zorobabel, 
at the time of the captivity ; but then diverge again, and even 
at the close the difference is maintained, for Matthew makes 
Joseph the son of Jacob, whereas Luke represents him as the 
son of Heli, or Eli. He could not have been naturally the son 
of both these persons ; and the essential differences in the two 
lines of descent allows no satisfactory solution in the idea, that 
Jacob and Heli are different names for the same person. They 
are obviously two different genealogies from the common an- 
cestor David. This being the case, there can be little doubt 
that the genealogy of Matthew is that of Joseph, and the one 
of Luke that of Mary, — the former being the legal, and the 
latter the real genealogy of Jesus. 

Indeed, Luke seems to have indicated his meaning as clearly 
as could be, consistently with the absence of a woman's name 
in a pedigree, by distinguishing the real from the legal genea- 
logy, in a parenthetical remark, — " Jesus being ^as was repu- 
ted) the son of Joseph (but in reality) the son of Heli," or 
his grandson by the mother's side ; for so the ellipsis should be 
supplied. 

Furthermore, Mary is always called by the Jews " the 
daughter of Heli ;" and by the early Christian writers, " the 
daughter of Joakim and Anna." Now, Joakim. and J57£akim 
(as different names in Hebrew for God) are sometimes inter- 
changed ; so that Heli or Eli is an abridged form of Eliakim, 
interchanged for Joakim. 

These observations may suffice to indicate the heads of a 
discussion involving much curious matter, tending, as all dis- 
cussion does, in the long run, to the vindication of the sacred 
writers, even in those of their statements that may, at the first 
view, seem the most inconsistent. 

One of the lines is, therefore, the natural and legal line of 
Joseph's descent; and the other that of a reputed line, arising 
from his adoption by the father assigned to him in it, or by his 
marriage with the daughter. An adopted son inherited all 
the rights of a natural son. If, therefore, a man had a daugh- 



INCARNATION. *79 

ter only, the person who married her became virtually his son, 
and, as such, was reckoned in the genealogy, — so.that, although 
descents could not be reckoned by females, yet the name of a 
man who had only a daughter was not lost in Israel, as the 
husband assumed his wife's genealogy, and took his place in 
the roll as the son of her father. The conclusion then, is, that 
one of these genealogies is that of Joseph, and the other that 
of his wife Mary, — both lines being preserved to show defi- 
nitely, that Jesus was, in the most full and perfect sense, a de- 
scendant of David ; not only by law in the royal line of kings 
through his reputed father, but by direct personal descent 
through his mother. 



TWENTY-NINTH WEEK— WEDNESDAY. 

INCARNATION. JOHN I. 14. 

It is very often stated, and as often admitted, that the idea 
of an incarnation of the Deity is not peculiar to Christianity, 
and is in fact common in Oriental mythology. In this we for 
a time indolently acquiesced, and were content to rest upon 
the essential differences between the incarnations of the Hindu 
gods and that of the Messiah. But on looking more closely 
into the matter, after venturing to assume the possibility that 
even great authorities might be mistaken, we feel inclined to 
deny that there is in Eastern mythology any incarnation in any 
sense approaching that of the Christian, and that least of all is 
there any, where it has been most insisted on. 

In the Hindu religion there are numerous avatars of the 
gods, commonly, but erroneously, translated incarnations. 
But avatar means a descent ; and the three great gods, their 
consorts, their offspring, and numerous other mythological 
personages, are represented as descending in human, in animal, 
or in a compound monstrous form, for some special objects, 
such as to reward righteousness or to redress and punish wrong. 
These are mostly such transformations, or assumptions of 



80 TWENTY-NINTH WEEK— WEDNESDAY. 

form, as we read of in classical mythology, and which no one 
has thought of comparing with the Christian incarnation. But 
when we speak of Hindu avatars, we think mainly of the ten 
avatars of Vishnu, — nine past, and one to come.* But even 
here we find the same want of proper analogy to the real idea 
of the Divine incarnation ; and we see, moreover, that the in- 
carnation of Christ is effectual once for all, — whereas these 
heathen gods are continually descending to set right things 
that have gone out of joint. In one of Vishnu's avatars, the 
god becomes a gigantic man-boar to draw up the earth from 
the ocean in which it had been submerged ; he appears in 
another as a mighty man-tortoise to sustain the globe, which 
was convulsed by the malignant potency of demons; in a 
third, he veils his glory in the form of a devouring man-lion, 
and, rushing from a pillar of marble, rescues a religious son 
from an impious father, and destroys the father to vindicate the 
majesty of offended justice. The fabulists with whom these 
singular fictions originated, proceed with equal or greater 
wantonness of fancy to detail various other descents of the 
divine nature. The two last avatars (if they be two, for some 
think them essentially the same) are those only which can be 
said to make a distant approach to our ground. In these the 
god is born of woman, — that is to say, instead of taking pos- 
session of the form of an adult, he takes possession of an un- 
born infant ; and the child of human parents is born into the 
world, and grows up through childhood to youth and man- 
hood. The first of these two is that of Khrishna, to which we 
have formerly referred,f in the representations of whom, as a 

* The ten avatars are usually thus arranged, — 1. Matsya, the fish, or 
man-fish. 2. Kurma, the tortoise, or man-tortoise. 3. Varaha, the 
boar, or man-boar. 4. Narasingba, the lion, or man-lion. 5. Vamana, 
or the dwarf. 6. Parasu Rama, the name of the favored person in 
whom Vishnu became incarnate. 7. Sre-Ram, the same. 8. Khrishna. 
the same. 9. Budh, the same. 10. Kalki, the horse, or man-horse. 
Observe, it is a question netween the Brahminical and Budhist sects, 
whether the Budh of the ninth avatar is the same with the founder of 
Budhism or not. 

f Morning Series: Third Week — Monday. 



INCARNATION. 



81 




82 TWENTY-NINTH WEEK WEDNESDAY. 

child, have occurred those supposed pictorial resemblances to 
the Virgin and Child of the Konian Catholic painters. But 
this sort of analogy must always exist where a woman, with a 
child at her bosom, is depicted ; and in the case before us, the 
female figure is not that of the mother Devaki, as some im- 
agine, but of the foster-mother Yesuda. In the last avatar, that 
of Vishnu as of Budha, it is even questioned whether the god 
was born a child or not ; for, according to some accounts, he 
appeared at once as a shepherd boy. In either case, after a 
career of unutterable carnality, mingled with heroic achieve- 
ments and redress of wrongs, he returns to the joys of his 
celestial mansion, having imparted all moral and political pre- 
cepts to his favored followers. The particulars are all through- 
out as different as heaven is from earth — and it may be re- 
gretted that the details which show the complete difference 
between the gospel and the Hindu idea of an incarnation of 
the Deity, are too revolting to be cited in a book like this. 

In none of the Hindu legends to which we refer, is the 
mother a virgin, and in the most striking of them she has 
already borne seven children. These facts render it clear that 
the most pointed incident in the history of our Lord's incarna- 
tion could not be derived from the mythology of the far East, 
as some have dared to allege ; and even they admit that this 
circumstance affords no trace of Jewish invention, seeing that 
among that people marriage was held in the highest esteem, 
and celibacy in disrespect ; and it is admitted that they never 
did, and do not now, expect the Messiah to be born of a vir- 
gin. If, therefore, it were not a fact — no basis for it either in 
Jewish or heathen ground could be discovered, for it as an in- 
vention or myth. 

But heathendom, we shall be told, is not exhausted. There 
is Budhism, which offers still more striking analogies, so that 
it has been sometimes carelessly called " the Christianity of the 
remote East." Is it not on record that Budh was born of a 
woman — born of a virgin ? So were the Fohi of China, and 
the Sckaka of Thibet, no doubt the same, whether a mythic or 
a real personage. We are also told that the Jesuits in China 



INCARNATION. 83 

were appalled at finding in the mythology of that country the 
counterpart of the " Virgo Deipara." One, referring to this, 
adds : " There is something very curious in the appearance of 
the same religious notions in remote and apparently discon- 
nected countries, where it is impossible to trace the secret 
manner of their transmission."* The resemblance we have in 
certain points allowed formerly, as in the traditions respecting 
the Creation, the Fall, and the Deluge — and we found all this 
adequately accounted for by the heritage of common primitive 
traditions by all the races of men descended from that one 
family which survived the Deluge ; and we might have no 
difficulty in referring to the same source the matter now under 
consideration, regarding them as embodied traditions of the 
promise made to the woman that her seed should bruise the 
serpent's head. Indeed, we have ourselves referred to this 
source certain circumstances in the history of the Hindu 
Khrishna.f But what we now inquire after are analogies of 
the Incarnation, which, in the gospel sense, was not likely to 
be deduced from that promise by the heathen descendants of 
Noah, seeing that the Jews themselves did not deduce it. 

Now, if the gospel idea of the incarnation be that of God 
descending to take upon himself in the womb of a woman 
man's entire nature — to become a man such as we are, " yet 
without sin," — there is as little of this in Budhism as in Brah- 
minism — and indeed far less. In the Jsaaies, the god does at 
least descend, does at least lower himself to earth. But 
Budhism has no god to descend ; and Budh must be born of 
woman, not as God descending to take upon Him flesh, but as 
man rising to take upon him a kind of temporary godhead. 
Instead of similarity, therefore, we find the greatest contrariety 
between these two things. 

Let us try to make this clear. 

Budh is the name for God, not of any god in particular. 
There have been several Budhs, and there will be one more. 
And here we may remark how all systems concur in the belief 



* Milman's History of Christianity, i. 99. 
f Morning Series : Third Week — Monday. 



84 



TWENTY-NINTH WEEK WEDNESDAY. 



that the world is near or is approaching its last ages. Brah- 
minism expects but one more avatar of Vishnu; Budhism 
looks but for one more Budh to appear. At large intervals of 




iflHr 




time, men have appeared, who, in transmigrations through 
long ages, from one form of being and one state of life to an- 
other, and behaving increasingly well in each, have gone on 
accumulating an immense stock of merits, and higher degrees 
of sanctity, till they are at length born into a state of super- 
natural knowledge and power — have in fact attained perfection, 
and can go no higher, and therefore, after the next death, are 
born no more, but pass into annihilation. It is while he exists 
in this final state on earth, previous to annihilation, that this 
personage is Budh, and is worshipped as a god, and after his 
death continues to be worshipped — not as a present god, but 
as a memory ; and the rules and precepts which he has left, 
form the rule of life, worship, and religion for the people, till 
the next Budh appears. Thus the system is practical atheism, 
built on a foundation of human merits. Its god is dead, and 



INCARNATION. v 85 

its final hope is annihilation. Where is the resemblance to 
Christianity — where any analogy to the incarnation in all this ?* 
It is a system in which the incarnation of the Godhead is a 
simple iia^dbafeite^, there being no god to incarnate — Budh 
being merely an eminent saint exalted into a demigod. If, 
therefore, we should hear stories regarding preternatural con- 
ceptions, or even of births from virgins in the case of Budhs, 
and Budhist saints, this has nothing at all to do with the sub- 
ject — that is, with the incarnation of the Godhead — seeing that 
they are avowedly circumstances conferring honors upon the 
birth of a mortal, and the only Biblical comparison to which 
they are open, are with the births of Isaac, of Samson, of the 
son of the woman of Shunem, and of John the Baptist. 

* "The last Budh was Gaudama, born son of a king in Hindustan 
about the year 626 b. c. He had previously lived in four hundred mill- 
ions of worlds, and passed through innumerable conditions in each. In 
this world he had been almost every sort of worm, fly, fish, or animal, 
and almost every grade or condition in life. Having in the course of 
these transmigrations attained immense merit, he was at length born 
son of the king mentioned. The moment he was born he jumped 
upon his feet, and spreading out his arms exclaimed, ' Now I am the 
noblest of men ! This is the last time I shall ever be born.' His 
height when grown up was nine cubits. His ears were so beautifully 
long as to hang upon his shoulders ; his hands reached to his knees 
his fingers were all of equal length ; and with his tongue he could 
touch the end of his nose. All of which were deemed irrefragible 
proofs of his divinity. When in this state his mind was enlarged, so 
that he remembered his former conditions and existence. Of these he 
rehearsed many to his followers. Five hundred and fifty of these 
narratives have been preserved; one relating his life and adventures 
as a deer, another as a monkey, elephant, fowl, etc. The collection 
is called Dyat, and forms a very considerable part of the sacred 
books. Gaudama became Budh in the thirty-fifth year of his age, 
and remained so forty -five years, at the end of which time having 
performed all sorts of meritorious deeds, and promulgated his laws 
far and wide, he obtained Mcban, that is, he entered into annihilation, 
together with 500 priests by whom he had been long attended. 

" The next Budh is to appear about seven or eight thousand yeara 
from the present time. His height will be eighty cubits ; his mouth 
will be five cubits wide, and the length of the hair of his eyebrows 
five cubits " — Rev. Howard Malcolm's Travels in South-Eastern Asia. 



8i> TWENTY-NINTH WEEK THURSDAY. 

TWENTY-NINTH WEEK— THURSDAY. 

CHRISTIANITY AND BUDHISM. JOHN I. 14. 

The subject which last evening engaged our attention, seems 
to us to have acquired so much importance from the evil use 
that has been made of these alleged Eastern incarnations, that 
we are anxious to set forth just so much of explanation in re- 
gard to it, as may prevent the reader from being confused by 
the different forms of Budhism which reading may bring under 
his notice. 

Let it then be understood that what we have described is 
the orthodox form of this religion. But there is another very 
extensive sect, prevalent in Tartary, to the very frontiers of 
Europe, in which the strongest analogies to Christianity have 
been fancied. The principles are the same : but these sectaries 
worship a living, not a dead Budh. They hold that Budh did 
not at his death pass into annihilation, but transmigrated into 
another body — that of a child born about the time of his death ; 
and hence when the Budh, or Dalai Lama dies, the priests 
cease not till they have found the child whose person he has 
taken. These, when found, are often reported to have been 
born under extraordinary circumstances, and hence the stories 
of virgin-born Budhs, etc. The same things are related of 
certain inferior Budhs or Lamas, for there are many local ones ; 
and indeed by the principles of this sect, which dispenses with 
the crowning glory of annihilation, there is no reason why 
several persons should not at the same time be in possession 
of, or in progress towards the state of Budhist perfection. 

Here then we get rid, as we conceive very completely, of 
Oriental incarnations ; and it only remains to dispose of the 
other resemblances to Christianity, or rather to Roman Cath- 
olicism, which so astounded the Jesuits in China ; and this it 
is our privilege to be able to do on the evidence of two other 
Jesuits (Gabet and Hue), who were similarly astonished, and 
the last named of whom has lately presented the public with 
a most interesting and valuable account of unexplored regions 



CHRISTIANITY AND BUDHISM. 87 

in Tartary. The Budhism of this region has, it appears, had 
its reformer in the fourteenth century in the person of one 
Tsong-Kaba, who may easily be supposed to have derived his 
inspiration from Romanist missionaries. 

At the period mentioned, a shepherd of the land of Amdo, 
named Lombo-Moke, had set up his black tent at the foot of a 
mountain, near the entrance to a deep ravine, through which, 
over a rocky bed, meandered an abundant stream. Lombo- 
Moke shared with his wife Chingtsa-Tsio the cares of pastoral 
life. They possessed no numerous flocks ; some twenty goats, 
and a few sarligues or long-haired cattle constituted all their 
wealth. For many years they had lived alone and childless in 
these wild solitudes. But one day Chingtsa-Tsio, having de- 
scended to the bottom of the ravine to draw water, experienced 
a faintness, and fell senseless on a large stone, which bore 
inscribed on it various characters in honor of the Budha Chuk- 
dja Mouni. When Chingtsa-Tsio came to herself, she felt a 
pain in the side, and at once comprehended that the fall had 
rendered her fruitful. Nine months after this mysterious event, 
she brought into the world a son, whom Lombo-Moke named 
Tsong-Kaba, from the mountain at whose foot his tent had 
stood for several years. The marvellous child had at his birth 
a white beard, and his face wore an air of extraordinary majesty. 
There was nothing childlike about his manners. So soon as he 
saw the light he was capable of expressing himself in the lan- 
guage of Amdo with clearness and precision. He spoke little 
indeed, but his words always developed a profound appreciation 
of the nature and destiny of man. 

At the age of three, Tsong-Kaba resolved to renounce the 
world and embrace the religious life. His mother, full of re- 
spect for the holy project of her son, herself shaved his head, 
and cast his long flowing hair outside the tent. From this 
hair there forthwith sprung a tree, the wood of which dispensed 
an exquisite perfume around, and each leaf of which bore en- 
graved on its surface a character in the sacred language of 
Thibet. Tsong-Kaba himself withdrew into the most absolute 
retirement, avoiding even the presence of his parents. He took 



88 TWENTY-NINTH WEEK THURSDAY. 

up his position on the summit of the wildest mountains, or in 
the depths of the profoundest ravines, and there spent whole 
days and nights in prayer, and in the contemplation of eternal 
things. His fastings were long and frequent. He respected 
the life even of the humblest insect, and rigorously interdicted 
himself the use of any sort of flesh whatever. While the saint 
was thus engaged in purifying his heart by assiduity and 
prayer, "and by the practices of an austere life, a Lama from 
one of the most remote regions of the West visited the land of 
Amdo, and received the hospitalities of Lombo-Moke's tent. 
Tsong-Kaba, amazed at the science and sanctity of the stranger, 
prostrated himself at his feet, and besought him to become his 
instructor. The Lamaic traditions relate that this Lama of the 
West, was remarkable not only for his learning, the profundity 
of which was unfathomable, but for the singularity of his ap- 
pearance. People especially remarked his great nose, and his 
eyes that gleamed with a supernatural fire. The stranger being 
on his part not less struck with the marvellous qualities of 
Tsong-Kaba, did not hesitate to adopt him as his disciple, and 
for this purpose took up his abode in the land of Amdo, where, 
however, he only lived a few years. After having initiated his 
people in all the doctrines recognised by the most renowned 
saints of the West, he fell asleep one day on a stone, upon the 
summit of a mountain, and his eyes opened not again. 

Tsong-Kaba, deprived of the holy stranger's lessons, but still 
athirst for religious instruction, ere long determined to abandon 
his tribe, and proceed to the further west, that he might drink 
at their very source the pure precepts of sacred science. He 
actually made some progress in his journey, when he was met 
by a spirit all radiant with light, who forbade his further pro- 
gress. At this place disciples in great numbers gathered round 
this extraordinary man ; and the new doctrines he taught, and 
the innovations he introduced into the Lamaic worship, began 
to create considerable excitement. At length Tsong-Kaba 
resolutely put himself forward as a reformer, and began to 
make open war upon the ancient worship. His partisans in- 
creased from day to day, and came to be known as the yellow- 



CHRISTIANITY AND BUDHISM. 89 

cap Lamas, in contradistinction to the red-cap Lamas, who 
supported the old system. Eventually the then living Budh, 
after much opposition, gave in his adhesion ; and from that 
time the reformed doctrine encountered no obstacle, and be- 
came by insensible degrees firmly established in all the realms 
of Tartary. 

Now, it is a reasonable inference, that all the analogies to 
Christianity which are to be found in the Budhism of this 
region, and which doubtless constituted the reforms introduced 
by Tsong-Kaba, are due to the instructions of the stranger from 
the West, in whom we cannot fail to recognise a Roman Cath- 
olic missionary, if only by his long and prominent nose — a 
feature exceedingly suited to attract the special attention of the 
short-nosed Tartar natives. M. Hue himself is clear in this 
opinion, and all but demonstrates it. But that he has antici- 
pated us in the essential conclusion, we should be ready to 
show, from materials industriously collected many years ago, 
that it was not until the thirteenth century that the spiritual 
dynasty of the Grand Lama was established in Thibet with its 
existing forms of worship ; and that, prior to this, that region 
had been in immediate contact with Christianity, having, 
through the labors of French and Italian missionaries, and the 
visits of ambassadors and agents from western courts to the 
Tartar emperors, acquired a familiarity with the forms of Romish 
worship, and gained some general notions of Christian doctrine. 
It will be remarked that those who have noticed these analogies 
have always been Romish missionaries. A Protestant mission- 
ary would find little on the same ground which would strike 
him as analogies to Christianity ; though if versed in the prac 
tices of the Romish Church, and if not tracing the line of con- 
nection between the two, he would consider that he had dis- 
covered another nest of analogies between heathenism and 
Popery. 

But let us hear M. Hue. 

" Upon the most superficial examination of the reforms and 
innovations introduced by Tsong-Kaba into the Lamanesque 
worship, one must be struck with their affinity to Catholicism. 



90 TWENTY-NINTH WEEK THURSDAY. 

The cross, the mitre, the dulmatica, the cope, which the grand 
Lamas wear in their journeys, or when they are performing 
some ceremony out of the temple ; the service with double 
choirs, the psalmody, the exercises, the censer suspended from 
five chains, and which you can open or close at pleasure ; the 
benediction given by the Lama by extending the right hand 
over the heads of the faithful ; the chaplet, ecclesiastical 
celibacy, spiritual retirement, the worship of the saints, the 
feasts, the processions, the litanies, the holy water — all these 




are analogies between the Budhists and ourselves. Now, can 
it be said these analogies are of Christian origin ? We think 
so. We have indeed found neither in the traditions nor in the 
monuments of the country, any positive proof of their adop- 
tion ; still it is perfectly legitimate to put forward conjectures, 
which have all the characters of the most emphatic probability. 
" It is known that in the fourteenth century, at the time of 
the domination of the Mongol emperors, there existed frequent 
relations between the Europeans and the people of Upper Asia. 
We have already, in the former part of our narrative, referred 
to those celebrated embassies which the Tartar conquerors 



CHRISTIANITY AND BUDHISM. 91 

sent to Rome, to France, and to England. There is no doubt 
that the barbarians who thus visited Europe must have been 
struck with the pomp and splendor of the ceremonies of the 
Catholic worship, and must have carried back with them into 
the desert enduring memories of what they had seen. On the 
other hand, it is also known that, at the same period, brethren 
of various religious orders undertook remote pilgrimages for 
the purpose of introducing Christianity into Tartary; and 
these must have penetrated at the same time into Thibet 
among the Si-Fan, and among the Mongols on the Blue Sea. 
Jean de Montcorvin, Archbishop of Peking, had already organ- 
ised a choir of Mongol monks, who daily practised the recita- 
tions of the psalms and the ceremonies of the Catholic faith. 
Now, if one reflects that Tsong-Kaba lived precisely at the 
period when the Christian religion was being introduced into 
Central Asia, it will be no longer matter of astonishment that 
we find, in reformed Budhism, such striking analogies with 
Christianity. 

" And may we not proceed to lay down a proposition of a 
more positive character? This very legend of Tsong-Kaba, 
which we heard in the very place of his birth, and from the 
mouth of several Lamas, does it not materially strengthen our 
theory ? Setting aside all the marvellous features which have 
been added to the story by the imagination of the Lamas, it 
may be fairly admitted that Tsong-Kaba was a man raised 
above the ordinary level by his genius, and also, perhaps, by 
his virtue; that he was instructed by a stranger from the 
West ; that after the death of the master, the disciple, pro- 
ceeding to the West, took up his abode in Thibet, where he 
diffused the instruction which he himself had received. May 
it not be reasonably inferred that this stranger with the great 
nose was an European, one of those Catholic missionaries, who, 
at that precise period, penetrated in such numbers into Upper 
Asia ? It is by no means surprising that Lamanesque tradi- 
tions should have preserved the memory of that European 
face, whose type is so different from that of the Asiatics. 
During our abode at Kour bourn, we more than once heard the 



92 TWENTY-NINTH WEEK FRIDAY. 

Lamas make remarks upon the singularity of our features, and ! 
say, roundly, that we were of the same land with the master 
of Tsong-Kaba. It may be farther supposed that a premature 
death did not permit the Catholic missionary to complete the 
religious education of his disciple, who himself, when after- 
wards he became an apostle, merely applied himself, whether 
from haying acquired only an incomplete knowledge of Chris- 
tian doctrine, or from having apostatised from it, to the intro- 
duction of a new Budhist Liturgy." 

After having thus shown that there are no incarnations in 
Budhism; that the Budhs themselves are merely eminent 
saints ; that there is an utter disparity of doctrine between 
Budhism and Christianity ; and that the ritual analogies ob- 
servable in certain Budhist countries are fairly traceable to 
Romanist influence and teaching in the middle ages, — we 
ought in fairness to hear no more of such analogies with a view 
of reducing the peculiarities of the Gospel dispensation to the 
low level of some heathenish standard. 

Besides, the Christian doctrine of the incarnation is to be 
taken along with that of the atonement. These are essentially 
parts of the same great idea ; and the idea of the Incarnate 
Being conquering, overcoming, redeeming, by passive submis- 
sion to persecution, stripes, ignominy, and death, is strange to 
ancient heathendom, which had nothing even remotely ana- 
logous to " the offence of the cross ;" without which, in the 
Christian point of view, the doctrine of the incarnation would 
lose nearly all its force and significance. 



TWENTY-NINTH WEEK— FRIDAY. 

THE YEAR. MATTHEW II. 1. 

How long ago was our Lord born ? 

Some will smile at this question, and will answer it by 
another question, — Does not the date of the present year 



THE YEAR. 93 

answer that very plainly? Eighteen hundred and fifty-two 
years since, of course." 

Then in what year was our Lord born ? 

" In the year one, of course," some will answer. 

" In the year 0, of course," others will affirm. 

Then here, to begin with, is a year's difference, seeing that 
some count one at the moment Christ was born, while others 
do not count one till the first year of his life had expired. 

But there is greater difference still. A marginal note at the 
head of our English New Testaments informs us, that Jesus 
was born in the " fourth year before the account called Anno 
Domini" by which account, therefore it would seem that the 
year of our Lord, which we call 1852, is really 1856, — leaving 
us to infer that the person who first calculated the year of 
Christ's birth was mistaken to this extent. Nor should this 
surprise us, seeing that it was not done until the sixth century 
— a most unscientific and uncritical age. It was not until 
then that the usage of counting from the birth of Christ began, 
and it was but slowly that it acquired prevalence, — so that, 
although, with differences, it was generally established in the 
eighth century, it cannot be said to have become universal in 
Christendom until the fifteenth. 

Lately the whole question has been re-examined by conti- 
nental and English scholars with much care ; and although 
the precise year of our Lord's birth is still uncertain, a reason- 
ably near approximate has been attained. The safest process, 
indeed the only attainable one, is to find, as nearly as we may, 
the year of Rome in which the event occurred. For this there 
are certain data in the gospels and in Josephus, which, with- 
out leading us to absolute certainty, will not allow us to go 
far astray. We will endeavor to state this very briefly. As a 
preliminary, it may be well to remind the reader, that the first 
year of the present vulgar era coincides with the year 753 of 
the building of Rome (a.u.) 

According to Matthew ii. 1, Jesus was born in the reign of 
Herod the Great, and not long before his death. Now Herod 
died in the year of Rome 750, just before the Passover. If, 



94 TWENTY-NINTH WEEK FRIDAY. 

then, we make an allowance of time for the purification, the 
visit of the magi, the flight into Egypt, and the remaining 
there till Herod was dead, — for all which not less than six 
months can well be required, — it will follow that the birth of 
Christ cannot in any way be fixed later than the autumn of 
the year of Rome 749, being four years beyond the present era. 

Again, Luke (iii. 1, 2) says, that John the Baptist entered 
upon his ministry in the fifteenth year of Tiberius ; and, fur- 
ther on (iii. 23), that Jesus was " about thirty years of age" at 
the time of his baptism by John. Now if, as is quite likely, 
John commenced his ministry at the same age as Jesus, we 
may, by reckoning back thirty years, ascertain the time of 
John's birth, and, consequently, that of Jesus, who is known 
to have been six months younger. Now, reckoning from the 
death of Augustus, in the year of Rome 767, the fifteenth 
year of Tiberius, who succeeded him, commenced August 29, 
a.u. 781 ; and going back thirty years, we find that John 
must have been born not earlier than August 29, a.u. 751, and 
our Lord of course not earlier than a.u. 752 — a result differ- 
ing by three years from that obtained from Matthew. But 
Tiberius had been associated with Augustus in the empire cer- 
tainly two years, and probably three, before the death of the 
latter ; and if, as may be well presumed, Luke reckons from 
this the commencement of the reign of Tiberius, the date de- 
duced from his statement coincides entirely with that drawn 
from Matthew. 

Further, in John ii. 20, the Jews say, " Forty and six years 
was this temple in building." Now, Herod commenced the 
temple in the eighteenth year of his reign, coinciding with a.u. 
732 ; if, therefore, our Lord was — at the time of his first Pass- 
over, forty-seven years after, as is probable — thirty and a half 
years of age, this would carry back the year of his birth to the 
autumn of the year of Rome 748. 

Moreover, a tradition, preserved by the Latin fathers, on a 
point wherein authentic information is easily obtainable by 
them, makes the death of Christ to have taken place in the 
consulship of C. Rubellius and C. Fufius, that is, in a.u. 782 



THE DAT. 95 

If, therefore, the duration of our Lord's ministry was three and 
a half years, making his age thirty-three and a half at the time 
of his death, this takes us back to the same date of 748 a.u. 

From the concurrence of all these data, it would appear that 
the birth of our Lord cannot have taken place later than the 
year of Rome 749 ; but it may have been a year or two earlier, 
if we suppose the period of six months too short to cover the 
interval between the birth of Jesus and the return of the family 
from Egypt, on hearing of Herod's death. Some think that 
it could not have been less than one, two, or three years. 
Taking all things into account, we suppose it could not well 
have been less than between one and two years. The uncer- 
tainty on this point seems the sole remaining difficulty. And 
the result is, that the birth of our Lord cannot well have been 
less than four years anterior to the present era, and may have 
been a year or two more. Upon the whole, we do not feel 
satisfied with less than a year more, and this would throw back 
the true date five years before the present era, — so that the 
present year of 1852 would be actually the 1857th year since 
the birth of our Lord. 



TWENTY-NINTH WEEK— SATURDAY. 

THE DAY. LUKE II. 11. 

There are many who do, and many who do not, observe 
the twenty-fifth of December as the day of our Lord's birth ; 
but those who do not celebrate the event on that day are led 
to this, not so much from any question as to the correctness of 
the time, as from conscientious scruples respecting the observ- 
ance, as a religious festival, of any day not distinctly appointed 
on Scriptural authority. So that, upon the whole, it may be 
considered that all Christendom deems this to have been the 
birth-day of our Lord, though all Christendom does not cele- 
brate it as such. 

Yet, in fact, the time of the year in which Jesus was born is 



96 TWENTY-NINTH WEEK SATURDAY. 

quite as uncertain as that of the year of his birth ; perhaps it 
is more uncertain — as the notes of time in the sacred narrative 
are fewer and less distinct. The question is one of little im- 
portance, even for those who observe the day, as the celebra- 
tion of a public event is not necessarily confined to the day of 
the year on which it occurred. The formal celebration of the 
birth-day of our own sovereign is, with a view to public con- 
venience, often appointed for another day and month than that 
on which it actually occurred. The question is, however, one 
of some Biblical interest, if only from the natural wish to 
know, whether the various circumstances attending and follow- 
ing our Lord's birth did or did not take place in the depth of 
winter. 

It is clear, that a celebration of the day of Christ's nativity 
was not thought of in the earliest ages of the Christian 
church ; when it was at length considered proper, no clue or 
tradition existed as to the real time, which had to be deter- 
mined with reference to probabilities, of which we are as com- 
petent to judge as the founders of the festival were, and 
perhaps more competent, from the more severely critical 
tendencies of our age. 

We strongly think that there is no satisfactory evidence as 
to the time of the year, and still less as to the precise day ; 
and it appears to us that the season, and, consequently, the 
day, have been determined on erroneous and uncritical data. 
There is no one now who will stand up for either the season 
or the day. Neither have even ancient tradition or practice in 
their favor. It would seem that the earliest writer who 
alludes to the matter was Clement of Alexandria, who wrote 
about the middle of the third century, and speaks with com- 
passionate scorn of the attempts made by persons in his time 
to fix, not only the precise year, but the exact day, of Christ's 
birth, both of which he considered equally futile and imprac- 
ticable. As there could have been no object in fixing the day 
of our Lord's birth but for the purpose of making the anni- 
versary day a festival, this may be regarded as the first indi- 
cation of a tendency in this direction, and we know from 



THE DAY. 97 

other sources that it was not until about this time that there 
was any celebration of the nativity of Christ in the Western 
church ; and it is well known that there was nothing of the 
kind in the Eastern churches till towards the end of the fourth 
century. These churches had but one festival bearing any re- 
ference to the appearance of Christ, — and that was the feast 
of the Epiphany, then regarded (for it has since acquired 
another meaning) as celebrating the. commencement of our 
Lord's ministry by his baptism by John in the Jordan. "When 
the Christmas festival, as the anniversary of our Lord's birth, 
came to them from the West, they at first resisted it strenu- 
ously ; but at length they accepted the anniversary, but not 
the day, choosing rather to connect it, properly enough, with 
their own old festival of the Manifestation, — and, therefore, 
celebrating the Lord's nativity on the 6th of January, instead 
of the 25 th of December. 

Thus we see there is, in fact, no authority of tradition for 
the time of the year or the day of the year. How it came to 
be fixed to the 25th of December, seems to have happened 
thus : — It was thought, most erroneously, that Zacharias, the 
father of John the Baptist, was high-priest, and that, when 
the angel appeared to him in the temple, it was on the day of 
atonement, on which day only the high-priest went into the 
inner sanctuary, to make expiation for the sins of the people, 
by sprinkling the blood of atonement before and upon the ark. 
A greater error was never made ; as it is clear that Zacharias 
was an ordinary priest, who, in the due course of service, went 
into the outer sanctuary to offer the daily incense. But the 
mistake being made, the reasoning went on thus : — The day 
of atonement being in September, John would be born in 
June ; but John was six months older than Jesus, who, there- 
fore, must have been born in December. This we firmly 
believe to be the basis, so worthless and unsubstantial, on 
which the determination of our Lord's birth to December has 
been raised. 

As little satisfactory is the process suggested by Sir Isaac 
Newton, as having been the one probably followed by those 

VCL III. 5 



98 TWENTY-NINTH WEEK — SATURDAY. 

who first began to celebrate this and other festivals. He sup- 
poses that they designedly distributed to the cardinal points 
of the year, — the annunciation of the Virgin Mary, the feasts 
of St. Michael and of John the Baptist, with this of the birth 
of our Sariour, being at first appointed to the days which they 
still occupy in the calendar, as being at that time respectively 
the days of the vernal and autumnal equinoxes, and of the 
summer and winter solstices. 

As, therefore, it is admitted on all hands, that the real day 
of the nativity is beyond the reach of calculation, it is open to 
us to acknowledge, that all the circumstances seem to us 
unfavorable to its having been in winter. It was little likely 
that the Romans would heighten the unpopularity of an in- 
trinsically unpopular measure by constraining a large part of 
the population to travel at that time of the year. Still less is 
it likely that Maiy, in her delicate condition, would have ac- 
companied her husband in the inclement weather belonging to 
that season. The same objection arises still more strongly 
from this being the season for the journey to Egypt — for there 
was then a new-born infant, the distance was far greater, and 
the season still less favorable — for if the birth was at the close 
of December, this journey must have been in February. The 
fact, that the shepherds were abroad with their flocks at night 
in the open air, is also against that supposition. The cold of 
the night during winter is too severe in Palestine to make this 
practicable. It is true, that the sheep might remain in the 
open air at night, as they do in much severer climates. But 
then they were folded in pens or cotes near the homestead, and 
had no need of night watchers ; for it is only when feeding at 
large in the open pastures during the milder seasons, that there 
is need of this night attendance of shepherds ; for it requires 
to be well noticed, that there appears to have been several 
shepherds in charge of the flock, which alone seems to indicate 
what was not the time of the year. What it was it is more 
difficult to say. Those who dissent from the existing conclusion 
usually name some time about either the vernal or autumnal 
equinox. We should be inclined to prefer the latter — some- 



THE NAME OF JESUS. 99 

where about the feast of tabernacles. The comparative leisure 
which the conclusion of the labors of the agricultural year 
afforded to a large part of the population, rendered this a 
favorite season for journeying and visiting among the Jews, 
and was therefore more likely than any other to be selected 
for the registration of the people — which could not well have 
been made at any other time without causing some of the 
useful and important labors of the field to be interrupted, — a 
result which must have appeared quite as little desirable to the 
Romans as to the Jews themselves. 

Upon the whole, we are clearly of opinion, that December 
is one of the three least likely months of the twelve in which 
the birth of our Saviour could be fixed ; and that, in the ab- 
sence of any adequate materials for a definite conclusion, the 
month of September may be indicated as affording some 
probabilities which can scarcely be advanced in favor of any 
other. 



THE NAME OF. JESUS LUKE II. 21. 

The evangelist is careful to inform us that, on the eighth 
day from his birth, the child was circumcised according to th« 
law. 

Several reasons have been advanced by learned divines for 
our Lord's submission to a rite, which was not, in any of its 
spiritual significance, needful to Him Circumcision was, as we 
know, designed to signify " the putting away of the body of 
the sins of the flesh," by the circumcision of the heart, which 
is the only thing that God regards as of real worth. Yet Christ, 
who, born without sin, required no regenerating process, sub- 
mitted to this humiliating rite. By this He gave full proof of 
the truth of his human nature, showing that He was made 
flesh to dwell among us — in all things like unto us brethren — 
•md was not a mere phantom, or spirit, or an angel, as some in 



100 THIRTIETH WEEK SUNDAY. 

a later age veutured to suppose. It was a proof that He was 
of the promised seed, the seed of Abraham. It was a mark 
of his regular initation into the Jewish church, in which every 
man-child was circumcised. It was a removal of what the 
Jews would have regarded as the scandal of uncircumcision. 
Without this, Jesus would have been driven from the thresh- 
olds of their temple, their synagogues, and their dwellings, as 
unclean and profane. But the principal reason appears to be 
this : — Circumcision was one of the matters which the law en- 
joined, and regarded as of essential importance ; had it there- 
fore been neglected in this case, He could not have been made 
in all things " obedient unto the law." Besides, being born in the 
likeness of sinful man, He, by his submission to this rite, gave 
public testimony that He would fulfil the whole law for us, for 
" every man that is circumcised is a debtor to do the whole 
law." " God sent forth his son, made of a woman, made under 
the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we 
might receive the adoption of sons." 

It was a custom among the Jews, that the child should at 
the same time receive its name. No law enjoined it ; but the 
fitness of the practice was thought to be fairly deducible from 
the circumstance, that Abram's name was changed to Abra- 
ham, — that is, the new name of Abraham was given to him at 
the time the rite was instituted. 

Accordingly, it was then that our Lord received the name of 
Jesus. 

It was usual, as we have seen in the case of John the Bap- 
tist, for the name to be settled by the parents, with or without 
friendly discussion with, and suggestion from, the friends and 
neighbors who might be invited to attend the ceremony. But 
in this case there could have been few friends to adorn the oc- 
casion with their presence ; and if there had been a hundred, 
their discussions would have had no influence upon the name, 
as both Mary and Joseph felt it to be a solemn duty to bestow 
upon the child no other name than that which had been im- 
parted to each of them by the angel before He was born. 
Every thing relating to the Christ was of importance ; and hi? 






THE NAME OF JESUS. 101 

name was of peculiar interest, especially among a people who 
attached so much consequence to the meanings of proper names 
as did the Jews. It was avowedly from such fitness of signifi- 
cation that the name was bestowed, — " His name shall be call- 
ed Jesus, because He shall save his people from their sins." 
Jesus means Saviour, or Deliverer, — and hence its fitness for 
One who had in reality undertaken this high function. 

It was not a new name framed for the occasion. It is the 
Greek form of the Hebrew name Joshua ; and in its same 
Greek form it occurs as the name of the author of one of the 
Apocryphal books — " Jesus, the son of Sirach." The newly- 
born infant had, however, a claim to the name, with special 
emphasis of meaning, such as no one who ever bore it possess- 
ed or pretended to. To save his people from their sins, is 
what no one but He could do ; and this entitles Him pre-emi- 
nently to the name of Saviour, and teaches us that deliverance 
from sin is the only real salvation. 

Syrian and Egyptian kings have assumed the name of 
Saviour (Soter) as a distinguishing title ; and many, in various 
lands, have been hailed as " the saviours of their country ;" but 
this was only with reference to deliverance from foreign bond- 
age or internecine war. No man was ever yet so called be- 
cause he delivered the human mind from its bondage, — none 
but this One, because He came to deliver the human race from 
its captivity to sin. Such a saviour as they were, and such as 
He was not, the Jews expected ; and had he appeared as such, 
to deliver them from the yoke of Rome, they would have 
hailed Him with shouts, and gathered to his standard like bees. 
But because He professed no more than to save them from 
their sins, they looked darkly on Him, and denounced Him 
even unto death as an impostor. They did not want to be de- 
livered from their sins, — they did not feel the burthen of them ; 
and they craved far more for temporal and political salvation. 
Alas, for them ! and for us too, alas ! It is easy to pity and 
condemn these Jews ; but let us look nearer home, and the 
loud tongue may sink into whispering humbleness. We may 
see how many, even in this Christendom, that bear his name, 



102 THIRTIETH WEEK SUNDAY. 

fail to recognise Him heartily, — and no other recognition is of 
any worth, — as He who came to save them from their sins. 
We see how many there are who, indeed, decently acknowledge 
the surpassing greatness of this salvation ; but who, if they 
ventured to speak plainly to their own hearts, would confess 
that deliverance from want, from pain, from trouble, — that sal- 
vation from civil, political, or military thraldom, is of really far 
greater importance in their eyes than deliverance from their 
sins. When Christ said to the Jews that He came to 
make them free, they remarked that they were not in bond- 
age. Then He told them, that he who lived in sin was the 
servant of sin ; but, " if the Son shall make you free, ye shall 
be free indeed." Intimating that there is no true freedom — 
no real salvation, but this. 

" He is the freeman whom the [Son] makes free. 
And all are slaves beside." 

And the man who has received from this great Saviour the 
charter of his deliverance, has obtained a freedom which man's 
utmost wit or malice cannot touch ; and which, in poverty, in 
distress, amid persecution, upon the bed of pain, in a low dun- 
geon, can make him triumphant, exultant, free, in the conscious 
enjoyment of that salvation from his sins, which the Saviour 
won so dearly for him, — of that liberty with which Christ 
makes his people free — the liberty of the sons of God. 

Thus taken in its fulness of meaning — Saviour — the name 
of Jesus becomes very precious. It is the sign and symbol of 
our faith and hope. It can throw a gleam over our sorrows 
and afflictions, and impart a holy and heavenly character to 
our joys. It can banish the dreariness of solitude, and give to 
social life its highest charm. It can invigorate the labors of 
the day, and sweeten the repose, or mitigate the restlessness, 
of night. In life, it is a never-failing fund of delight. It cheers, 
or solaces, the hour of death ; and it becomes the source of 
that unfaltering confidence with which we look forward to the 
solemnities of the last day. " This is the name which we en- 



THE PRESENTATION. 103 

grave in our hearts, and write upon our foreheads, and pro- 
nounce with our most harmonious accents, and rest our faith 
upon, and place our hopes in, and love with the overflowings of 
charity, joy, and adoration."* 



THIRTIETH WEEK— MONDAY. 

THE PRESENTATION. LUKE II. 22-24. 

There were two ceremonies under the law which required 
that Mary, with her husband and child, should be present in 
Jerusalem, and at the temple, within forty days after the birth 
of the latter. 

The first was the presentation of the child as the first-born 
before the Lord in the temple, for which the presence of father 
and child were needed; the other was the ceremony of the 
purification of the mother, for which her presence alone was 
necessary. Had not the child, therefore, been the first-born, 
the presence of the father and child would not have been 
needed; both were, however, usually present at Jerusalem 
even in that case. The child, because it could not be parted 
from the mother's breast ; and the father, to take care of his 
wife and child. 

There was legally ten days' interval between the two cere- 
monies — the presentation of the first-born being on the thirtieth 
day, and the purification on the fortieth. But these times were 
not rigidly enforced. The woman, however, was subject to 
considerable inconvenience by remaining in a state of ceremo- 
nial uncleanness until she had undergone legal purification, 
and therefore was always anxious not to protract the time, 
which simply could not be earlier than the fortieth day ; so 
the presentation could not be before the thirtieth day, but 
might be after. On the thirtieth day the fee of redemption 
for the first-born became due, whether the child were presented 
or not, but it might be paid later, and if it were paid sooner 

* Jeremy Taylor. Great Exemplar, p. 63. 



104 THIRTIETH WEEK MONDAY. 

in anticipation, as was sometimes done,- and it happened that 
the child died meanwhile — the priests might be required to 
refund the money, as it had not become due until the child 
was thirty days old. 

This being the case, persons who lived at any distance, and 
did not wish to prolong their stay in the metropolis by the ten 
days' interval, were content to go up in time for the purifica- 
tion, when both the ceremonies were gone through at once — 
the father first presenting the child; and the mother then 
standing forward for purification. The delay was further de- 
sirable, as the mother and child were by that time stronger 
for the journey, which was often from a considerable distance 

The reader will desire some information respecting these ob- 
servances. First, then, of the presentation : — 

When the Lord destroyed the first-born of the Egyptians, 
and in distinguishing mercy spared the first-born of Israel from 
the common doom, He decreed that the first-born of man and 
beast should be consecrated to Him. The beasts of lawful 
kind were to be offered in sacrifice, and the unlawful (such as 
asses) to be redeemed by the substitution of a lawful victim ; 
and the first-born of man were to be set apart for the service 
of the Lord. But when afterwards the whole tribe of Levi was 
appointed to such services, it pleased the Lord to direct that 
this circumstance should still be commemorated by the pre- 
sentation of the first-born at the tabernacle, when he was to be 
redeemed from the service by a money-payment of five shekels. 
This was a considerable sum for a poor person ; and the theory 
was, that if the parents were too poor to redeem him, he be- 
came liable for the lower offices of the temple service. But 
this never, we think, happened ; as there were generally per- 
sons willing to make up the sum for a very poor person ; and, 
if not, the priests, although they could not excuse the pay- 
ment, yet of course suffered the infant to remain with its 
mother, and the parents found means of raising the sum before 
the services of the child would be required. 

The other ceremony was that of the purification. 

In legal recognition of the fact of our being born in sin, a 



THE PRESENTATION. 105 

woman was accounted ceremonially unclean for forty days 
after the birth of a son, and eighty days after the birth of a 
girl ; and from this, which involved some disabilities, she was 
delivered by appearing before the priest at the east gate of the 
temple, where, after making the usual offerings, she was 
slightly sprinkled with the blood by the officiating priest, and 
declared clean. The proper offering was a lamb ; but as this 
might have been heavy upon the poor, the law considerately 
provided that in this case two turtle doves or two young pigeons 
should be substituted ; and, indeed, we are told that practically, 
where the poverty was too extreme to reach even to this, the 
tenth part of an ephah of meal might be accepted as an obla- 
tion. The offering made by Mary and Joseph — " two turtle 
doves, or two young pigeons" — it is not stated which, implies 
narrow circumstances indeed, but not the most abject poverty 
which some suppose. In case of such offerings as this, one of 
the doves was used as a burnt-offering, and the other as a sin- 
offering. 

It may be remarked that the provisions of the Levitical law 
in these respects had no application to such a case as this. 

" So remarkable a birth might have precluded the necessity 
of Levitical purification. The ransom which had to be paid 
for other first-born sons, in view of their original obligation to 
the priesthood, could hardly be necessary in the case of an 
infant who was one day to occupy the summit of the theocracy. 
It would be natural to suppose that Mary must have hesitated, 
and laid her scruples before the priests for decision, before she 
could make up her mind to perform these ceremonies. But 
we cannot judge of such extraordinary events by common 
standards. Mary did not venture to speak freely in public of 
these wonderful things, or to anticipate the Divine purpose in 
any way ; she left it to God to educate the child which had 
been announced to her as the Messiah, so as to fit Him for his 
calling, and at the proper time to authenticate his mission 
publicly and conspicuously."* 

The writer whose words we have here cited, powerfully 
* Neanper, Life of Jesus, p. 25. 



106 THIRTIETH WEEK TUESDA1. 

applies these circumstances to the refutation of the misbe- 
lieving authors who contend for the mythical character of 
our Lord's early history. A mythus generally strives to en- 
noble its subject, and to adapt the story to the idea. If, then, 
the gospel narrative were mythical, would it have invented or 
even suffered to remain a circumstance so foreign to the idea 
of the myth, and so little calculated to dignify it ? A mythus 
wonld have introduced an angel, or at least a vision, to pre- 
vent Mary from submitting the child to a ceremony so un ■ 
worthy of its dignity ; or the priests would have received an 
intimation from heaven to bow before the infant, and to pre- 
vent its being thus reduced to the level of ordinary children. 
Nothing of this took place ; but, instead of it, simply and un- 
ostentatiously, the high dignity and destiny of the child were 
revealed to two faithful souls. 



THIRTIETH WEEK— TUESDAY. 

SIMEON AND ANNA. LUKE II. 25-38. 

The " two faithful souls," who were privileged to recognise 
the Christ of God, in the infant brought to the temple by Mary 
and Joseph, were two aged people named Simeon and Anna. 

It has been sought to identify this Simeon with another 
person of the same name (a very common one among the 
Jews) who was alive at the time. This was the Rabban 
Simeon, the son of Hillel, a famous doctor of the Pharisees, 
and father of the celebrated Gamaliel, at whose feet Paul sat, 
as a student of Jewish learning under its most accomplished 
master. This Simeon's father, Hillel, was at this time still 
living, and was president of the council or Sanhedrim, and 
was at his decease succeeded by his son. Of Simeon lijttle is 
known but his name, position, and parentage ; and this com- 
parative obscurity to which he has been consigned, in compar- 
ison with his father and his son, has been thought to favor the 



SIMEON AND ANNA. 10*7 

probability that he had attained to more enlightened views 
respecting the nature of the Messiah's kingdom than generally 
prevailed, and, by consequence, of his being the Simeon here 
mentioned. An identification founded merely on a name so 
common as that of Simeon is however very precarious. Our 
Simeon is also evidently a very old man, on the borders of the 
grave, and therefore much older than Rabban Simeon could 
have been. Besides, the declaration of a man so noted and 
conspicuous, in a place so public, would have made a prodi- 
gious sensation, and must have come to the ears of Herod, 
whose jealousy would not have needed an awakening from the 
visit of the wise men. 

It may also fairly be inferred that this Simeon was not the 
celebrated master of the schools, from the silence of St. Luke, 
who, although writing primarily for Greek converts, would 
scarcely have omitted to state distinctly the testimony of so 
distinguished a man to the Messiahship of Jesus. 

All we really know of Simeon is, that he was one of those 
who " waited for the consolation of Israel," longing and pray- 
ing for the coming of the Messiah's kingdom, and who had 
received the Divine assurance, that he should not taste of 
death without witnessing the fulfilment of his heart's desire. 

The phrase employed, "waiting for the consolation of 
Israel," was one of well-known significance among the Jews, 
expressing the coming of the Messiah, and founded upon the 
terms in which Isaiah introduced his prediction of the Mes- 
siah's coming, " Comfort ye, comfort ye, my people." They 
used, it seems, even to swear by their hope of seeing the con- 
solation of Israel. Many instances of this might be cited 
from the Talmud.* 

Simeon, entering the temple at the same time the Divine 
child was brought in, cast his eyes upon him, and the inspiring 
Spirit apprised him that in this infant was the Hope of Israel — - 
that in Him, the Lord whom he sought had suddenly come tc 
his temple, as ancient prophets had foretold. Transported at 

* R. Judah ben Yabbai said : " So let me see the consolation (of 
Israel) if I have not put to death a false witness." Simeon Ben Shetach 



108 THIRTIETH WEEK TUESDAY. 

this fulfilment of all his hopes, the holy man caught the chile 
in his arms, and exclaimed, in a burst of inspired gratitude— 
" Lord, now lettest Thou thy servant depart in peace according 
to thy word : for mine eyes have seen thy salvation, which 
Thou hast prepared before the face of all people ; a light to 
lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel." By 
this, one perceives that his scope of vision was carried far 
beyond the narrow Jewish point of view. He conceives, in- 
deed, the kingdom of the Messiah as tending specially to 
glorify the Jewish nation ; but he yet extends its blessings also 
over the heathen, and believes that " the true Light" will 
enlighten them also. This is a view which had up to this 
only been intimated by the announcing angels ; and consider- 
ing how jealous the Jews were in appropriating to themselves 
all the hopes and glories of the Messiah's kingdom, this is a 
strong evidence of the depth of knowledge on this great sub- 
ject which had been imparted to him, probably in the pray- 
erful study of ancient prophecy. 

"When Simeon had uttered these words of thankfulness and 
joy, he turned to Mary, and exclaimed, "Behold this child is 
set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel, and for a 
sign which shall be spoken against — yea, a sword shall pierce 
through thy own soul also, that the thoughts of many hearts 
may be revealed." This is a very important addition to what 
he had said previously. From this we learn, that although he 
believed that Israel would be eventually glorified in the Mes- 
siah, yet that, at first, He would be to them a stone of 
stumbling and rock of offence, over which they would fall — 
but should be raised up again. If, as we suppose, these views 

said unto him : " So let me see the consolation, if thou hast not shed 
innocent blood." 

K. Eliezer ben Zadok said : " So let me see the consolation, if I did 
not see her gleaning under the horses' heels." 

R. Simeon ben Shetach said : " So let me see the consolation, I saw 
one man pursuing another with a drawn sword." 

In the Targum also upon Jer. xxxl 6, we find the phrase — " Those 
who desire the years of consolation that are to come." 



SIMEON AND ANNA. 109 

were derived from the devout study of inspired Scripture, they 
are precisely the same as we ourselves obtain from the same 
study. Israel has fallen ; but shall rise again — has fallen tha 
he may rise. 

Still more than this. Simeon did not conceive that all was 
to yield to the Messiah and bow before him, when He once 
girded on his conquering sword ; but that He was " to endure 
the contradiction of sinners against himself ;" and was to 
triumph through suffering, sorrow, death. It is clear that his 
intimation of the great grief in store for the mother who stood 
before him — that a sword should pierce through her own soul 
also, was founded on a clear conception, derived doubtless from 
Isaiah liii., of the sufferings that awaited her Divine Son, by 
which her maternal heart could not fail to be deeply wounded 
— especially when she saw his honored head droop in death 
upon the cross. 

By this it may be seen that Simeon's knowledge of the 
real character of the Messiah's mission, character, and king- 
dom, though not more than might be derived through the 
enlightened study of the prophetic Scripture, was far more 
distinct and accurate than any that even the Lord's own 
apostles possessed, until after the tongues of lire rested upon 
their heads at the feast of Pentecost. 

The other pious soul to whom the destiny of the infant 
Jesus was revealed, was the aged Anna, who heard Simeon's 
words, shared in his anticipations, and joined in the song of 
thanksgiving. It is remarkable, that although in this inter- 
esting transaction Simeon is the foremost figure, and his words 
alone are recorded; yet more is stated personally of Anna, 
than of him. We are told that she was " a prophetess, the 
daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Aser." Why she is 
called a prophetess is not clear. It may be because she had 
been the wife of a prophet ; it may be because she employed 
herself in celebrating the praises of God, which was sometimes 
called prophesying ; or it may be that the spirit which had 
heretofore rested upon the Deborahs and Huldahs, was known 
to speak at this time by her. That she was of the tribe of 



110 THIRTIETH WEEK WEDNESDAY. 

Asher, is a further proof that the knowledge of their tribei 
and genealogies had been preserved among the Jews until the 
Messiah came ; it also proves that members of the ten tribes 
returned from the East along with the captivity of Judah. 
This prophetess was venerable for her eminent piety preserved 
to extreme old age. Seven years she had lived with her hus- 
band after quitting her maiden state, and from his death she 
had remained in widowhood eighty-four years ; so that if she 
was married at twelve years and a half, which was among the 
Tews counted marriageable age, she may have been 103 years 
oW at this time, and could not well have been less than 100. 
Although the territories of her tribe were at a great distance 
from Jerusalem, she, not content with merely repairing thither 
for worship at the great festivals — and perhaps because at her 
age such journeys were distressing to her — had fixed her resi- 
dence at the holy city ; and there " she departed not from the 
temple, but served God with fastings and prayers night and 
day." Which means, not that she was always in the temple — 
for it is stated that she had just come in — but that she was 
constant in her attendance in every act of worship and sacred 
service, making her extreme age no excuse for neglect, but 
rather rejoicing in it as a privilege — of which thousands 
younger and stronger than she would not avail themselves, 
It is well known that the temple services were not much fee* 
quented even by men, and by women still less, or not at t ]], 
except on the Sabbath days and at great solemnities ; and t 
is this fact which imparts a special emphasis to this declaratit * 
respecting Anna the prophetess. 



THIRTIETH WEEK— WEDNESDAY. 

THE STAR IN THE EAST. MATTHEW II. 1, 2. 

In those days a circumstance occurred which excited a strong 
sensation at Jerusalem. There appeared from the far East 
certain learned and illustrious strangers, earnestly inquiring 



THE STAR IN THE EAST. Ill 

for the new-born " King of the Jews ;" declaring that, when 
they were in the East, they had " seen his star," and had come 
to render Him homage. 

Already there are matters in this which excite our inquiry, 
and demand our attention, before proceeding further. Who 
were these " wise men V What concern had they with the 
birth of a king of the Jews 1 What was the nature of the 
star which they had seen in the East, and how came they to 
conclude that it had any connection with the birth of a " king 
of the Jews ?" 

If we repair to Roman Catholic authorities, we shall, as 
usual, learn much more about these strangers than the Scrip- 
ture teaches. They were from Arabia; their number was 
three ; they were kings ; their very names are known — Gas- 
par, Melchoir, and Balthasar ; and, to crown all, their bodies 
repose in the odor of sanctity at Cologne, popularly known as 
" the three kings of [or at] Cologne." What more can we 
desire to know ? Not more, certainly ; and we must be con- 
tent to know much less. It is right to state, however, that the 
best Roman Catholic commentators admit the doubtfulness of 
all this. One of them* freely points out that these names are 
modern, and that other names as doubtful as these are to be 
found in some authors. Thus, we are told that in Greek they 
bear the names of Magdalat, Galgalat, Saracin ; and in He- 
brew, of Apellius, Amerus, Damascus; but these names are 
the manifest inventions of persons ignorant of both Greek and 
Hebrew. Others call them Ator, Sator, Paratoras, — names 
forged at random, and unknown till the twelfth century. That 
they were kings, and that their number was three, is not 
expressly affirmed by any writer until the ninth century. 
Tertullian has indeed been often quoted as an authority, — but 
the case, as regards him, is, that after citing the words of the 
Psalm,f — " The kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts," he 
adds, that the East ordinarily had magi for kings, a statement 
certainly not true at the time of Christ's birth in any country 
whose history we possess — not even in Persia. In fact, the 
* Calmet. Dissertation sur les Mages. \ Psalm lxxii. 10. 



112 THIRTIETH WEEK — WEDNESDAY. 

notion that the * wise men" were kings, was, at a compar- 
atively late period, inferred by interpretation from the text 
just cited, and which has been presumed to be prophetically 
applicable to the event ; and as Seba and Sheba were in Ara- 
bia, on this text is also founded the prevalent notion that the 
wise men came from that quarter. That their number was 
three, is a similar deduction from the text,* in which the 
strangers are described as presenting " gold, frankincense, and 
myrrh," — it being presumed that each of these three articles 
was offered by a different person. In such uncertain and pre- 
carious deductions often originate details which, in the lapse 
of time, assume the character of positive facts and affirmative 
traditions. 

The word translated " wise men," is in the original magi,-— 
a word which is, however, not Greek, but a foreign Oriental 
term, adopted by the evangelists, and other writers in Greek, 
as an appellative. This title of magi, or magians, originally 
belonged to the priests, who were also the learned men, of the 
Persians under that religious system which was described in 
the previous volume of this work. From this use of the term, 
it gradually, in all the countries constituting the great Persian 
empire, and eventually much beyond what had been its limits, 
came to denote any man who applied himself to learned and 
scientific pursuits. This anciently included, in all countries, 
much study of what was deemed occult knowledge, — such as 
astronomy in its application to astrology, and what we now 
call natural philosophy, the facts and results of which, familiar 
to us now, formed a treasury of hidden knowledge to the " wise 
men" of ancient times ; in short, the name covered all that 
was true, all that was pretensive, and all that was false, in the 
philosophy of the ancient Orientals. Astronomy was, however, 
the favorite object of magian study ; and the nice of the heavens 
was so much examined, that any strange luminous body could 
hardly fail to attract attention. Such a body was observed by 
our sages at the time our Lord was born ; and it remains to ask, 

* Matt. ii. 11. 



THE STAR IN THE EAST. 113 

what it was ; and then, how they were led to connect it with 
the birth of a " king of the Jews ?" 

The notion that this luminous appearance was a star, or 
planetary body, then first called into existence — created for the 
occasion — originated when the system of the universe was but 
little understood, and the nature of the planetary bodies wholly 
misapprehended. God does not make waste of his almighti- 
ness, or call forth more power than is needed to produce the 
result his Divine wisdom contemplates. This notion is not* 
therefore, now entertained. Still, and with all deference to 
better astronomers than we can pretend to be, it seems to us 
quite possible that, in the Divine foreknowledge, it may have 
been so ordered, that the light from one of the heavenly bodies, 
and, therefore, that body itself, should at this particular time 
first become visible to spectators on the earth. Nothing is 
more familiar than the great length of time it takes a ray of 
light from the more distant heavenly bodies to reach the earth, 
and so long must it have been after the creation of any one 
heavenly body before it could be seen from the earth. "We do 
not, however, suppose that this was the case ; though it may 
solve some difficulties in the way of those who will persist in 
claiming a new star for the occasion. 

The favorite notion of the Continent at present is that which 
originated with Kepler, and which has lately been revived, 
and supported with great ingenuity and vigor. It was first set 
forth in this country by a writer in the Cyclopaedia of Biblical 
Literature, from whose article* the following particulars are 
gathered. 

The conjunction of Jupiter, Saturn, and Mars, which took 
place in 1604, presented such appearances as reminded the 
great astronomer of the star of the magi, and led him to hope 
that he had discovered the data on which the period of our 
Lord's birth might be determined by astronomical calculations. 
" He made his calculations, and found that Jupiter and Saturn 
were in conjunction in the constellations of the Fishes (the fish 
is the astrological symbol of Judea) in the latter half of the 
* Star in the East. 



114 THIRTIETH WEEK WEDNESDAY. 

year of Eome 747, and were joined by Mars in 748. Here, 
then, he fixed the first figure for the date of our era, and here 
he found the appearance in the heaven which induced the magi 
to undertake their journey, and conducted them successfully on 
their way. Others have taken up the view, freed it from astro- 
logical impurities, and shown its trustworthiness and applica- 
bility in the case under consideration. It appeal's that Jupiter 
and Saturn came together for the first time on May 20th, in 
the twentieth degree of the constellation of the Fishes. They 
then stood before sunrise in the eastern part of the heavens, 
and so were seen by the magi. Jupiter then passed by Saturn 
towards the north. About the middle of September they were, 
near midnight, both in opposition to the sun, — Saturn in the 
thirteenth, Jupiter in the fifteenth degree, — being distant from 
each other about a degree and a half. They then drew nearer : 
in October the 2 2d there was a second conjunction in the six- 
teenth degree: and in November 12 th there took place a third 
conjunction in the fifteenth degree of the same constellation. 
In the two last conjunctions the interval between the planets 
amounted to no more than a degree, — so that, to the unassisted 
eye, the rays of the one planet were absorbed in those of the 
other, and the two bodies would appear as one. The two plan- 
ets went past each other three times, came very near together, 
and showed themselves all night long for months in conjunction 
with each other, as if they would never separate again. Their 
first vision in the East awoke the attention of the mam, — told 
them the expected time had come, and bade them to set off with- 
out delay towards Judea (the fish land). When they reached 
Jerusalem the two planets were once more blended together. 
Then in the evening they stood in the southern part of the sky, 
pointing with their united rays to Bethlehem, where prophecy 
declared the Messiah was to be born. The magi followed the 
finger of heavenly light, and were brought to the child Jesus. 
The conclusion, in regard to the time of the advent, is, that 
our Lord was bora in the latter part of the year of Kome 747, 
or six years before the common era." 

This is one ingenious and beautiful explanation. As to the 



THE STAR IN THE EAST. 115 

connection of this appearance with the Messiah, we are told, as 
as is indeed certain, that a conviction had long been spread 
through the East, that about the time of the commencement 
of our era, a great and victorious Prince, or the Messiah, was 
to be born. His birth was in consequence of Balaam's words 
(himself an eastern prophet) connected with the appearance of 
a star. (Num. xxiv. 1*7.) So far all is clear; and it is certain 
that such an expectation did exist, not only in the East, but in 
the West ; and furthermore, that it was expected that this great 
personage was to make his appearance in Judea. We may- 
add, that the ancient nations regarded the appearance of stars, 
meteors, or luminous bodies, as indicating the birth of high 
personages, of which many examples are recorded ; and that 
from the text referred to, the Jews themselves entertained the 
expectation that a star would appear at the birth of the Mes- 
siah. But we are further informed, that calculations seem to 
have led the astronomical astrologers of the East to place the time 
of the advent of this King in the latter days of Herod, and the 
locality in the land of Judea ; and accordingly, at the appointed 
time, the two planets, Jupiter and Saturn, were, as first ex- 
plained, in conjunction, " under such circumstances, as to ap- 
pear a resplendent heavenly body, and to marshal their way 
from their own homes to Jerusalem." 

JSTow, although we are reluctant to object to so neat a theory, 
we cannot help thinking that it fails in making out any possible 
connection, apparent to the magians, between this conjunc- 
tion of Jupiter and Saturn and the birth of Christ. We do not 
see that there could be any astronomical, or even astrological, 
basis for such a calculation as is supposed. They might calcu- 
late the conjunction of the planets, but there was no datum on 
which to connect that conjunction with the birth of the expect- 
ed Messiah. We are also reluctant to assume, that the Lord 
would, even to this extent, employ the instrumentality of the 
delusive and reprobated science of " the star-gazers and monthly 
prognosticators," and thereby give an implied sanction to its 
errors. These magi must also have been sufficient astronomers 
to understand the nature of this phenomenon, and they would 



116 THIRTIETH WEEK — WEDNESDAY. 

scarcely have designated as"a star" the two planets in this re- 
lation to each other, even though their rays were so commin- 
gled as to appear one heavenly body. The explanation does, 
indeed, very skilfully meet the difficulty of supposing a con- 
junction of planets to indicate a particular country, though we 
were not concious that Judea was under the sign Pisces, and 
was, therefore, astrologically known as " the fish land ;" but 
still, how could the rays indicate a small town, or any town, 
as alleged ? The evangelist says that the star went before 
them, and stood over the place where the young child was. 
Allowing every latitude to the use of popular language, it is 
simply impossible for a fixed star, under any circumstances, to 
have given this indication. If the planets in conjunction had 
appeared to the magi as resting over Bethlehem when they 
had crossed the Mount of Olives from Jerusalem, it is certain 
that they would have appeared just as far still to the south of 
Bethlehem when the travellers approached the place. 

This applies also to a comet which some suppose to have 
been the star in question : and it indeed applies equally to our 
own suggestion that a star may then have first become visible. 

We therefore remain shut up to the conclusion, that the 
star of the magi was a luminous meteor of some kind or other, 
the motions of which were supernaturally directed, and which 
is called " a star," either from its resemblance to a star, or from 
its concentrated brightness. The wise men who afterwards 
were divinely instructed as to their homeward way, may well 
have been in the same manner taught to know what this ap- 
pearance signified ; and that, if they followed its leading, it 
would conduct them to Him who was " the desire of all na- 
tions," and whose appearance was then earnestly expected by 
both Jews and Gentiles. This expectation may have arisen 
from ancient traditions ; from intercourse with the Jews, who 
were then found in almost every important town ; and from a 
more or less direct knowledge of the prophecies of Isaiah. Both 
in the East and West the Jews doubtless vaunted largely of 
their expectations in this respect, till the heathen, among whom 
they dwelt, became familiar with the idea ; and over all the vast 



VISIT OF THE MAGI. 117 

region m which the Greek language was spoken or understood, 
the prophecies were directly accessible through the translation 
made in the reign of Ptolemy Philadelphus. Writers who 
lived before Christ came to indicate their knowledge of these 
prophecies ; and Virgil in particular has left a poem, which is 
little other than a paraphrase of Isaiah's great prophecies of the 
Messiah's reign. 



THIRTIETH WEEK— THURSDAY. 

VISIT OF THE MAGI. MATTHEW II. 3-12. 

How happens it that the Eastern Magi, having the guidance 
of the star, went to seek the new born King in Jerusalem, 
where He was not ? It may be that the star had only appeared 
to them in the East, as a sign which they of all men could 
understand, that the expected Messiah was at length born. 
Sharing the universal expectation that He was to appear about 
this time, that He was to appear in Judea, and that a star was 
to give the sign of the event — it may be urged that they needed 
no star to guide them to that land in which they had already 
learned He was to be looked for. Or if then, as after, they 
received a Divine intimation, they could hardly have failed to 
know from this in what land the illustrious Child was to be 
sought ; and if, in either way, they knew that Judea was that 
land, assuredly they knew the way thither without a star. The 
case was altered when they had entered that land ; for how 
then were they, without a sign, to discover Him who lay ob- 
scurely hidden among the thousands of Israel ? 

It has, however, been conjectured by some, that the star did 
conduct them to Judea, and then supposing they no longer 
needed its guidance, they turned aside to Jerusalem, and so 
lost sight of it till they were again in the right way. But it 
seems to be forgotten that Jerusalem was in the right way to 
Bethlehem, if, as we suppose, they had come across the river 
Jordan. Under any hypothesis, it was perfectly natural that 
they should proceed to, or pause at, the metropolitan city. 



118 THIRTIETH WEEK THURSDAY. 

Where else should they expect to find or to hear of the illus- 
trious new born ? Surely there were high rejoicings in all her 
palaces ; surely the glorious news was ringing through all her 
streets and market places, and was celebrated in her renowned 
temple. They reasonably supposed that any one they accosted 
would be most readily able to answer their simple question, 
" Where is He that is born King of the Jews ?" and they could 
not but have been amazed and perplexed at the astonishment 
the question excited in those to whom it was addressed. Some 
of the people who heard this, however, thought it wisest to 
conduct them to the palace, as it seemed to be a matter of 
state, and might refer to something which had taken place 
there, though it had not yet been made known to the public. 
The tyrant who sat upon the throne " was troubled" at the 
question of the distinguished strangers. He knew the expec- 
tation of the Jews ; and, so far as he shared it, a man of his 
temper could not but regard with jealousy and dismay the 
birth of an heir of David's house, destined to re-establish his 
father's throne, to conquer and to reign — circumstances which 
could not co-exist with the preservation of that power in his 
family which had been most bloodily won and unworthily 
exercised. Of the spiritual character of the Messiah's reign, 
neither he nor his subjects generally, much less the Gentiles, 
had any conception : it was as a temporal king that he beheld 
Him ; and hence a rival, to be put down and destroyed. How 
Herod was troubled is thus easily understood ; but it is said 
the people were also troubled. How was that ? They had 
nothing to fear, but much to hope. The Herodian family was 
not popular with them, and there were perhaps not fifty men 
in Israel who would have lifted a finger to save it from ruin. 
Was it, then, that because of their sins they dreaded a reign of 
righteousness, or that they feared this inquiry might lead to 
some new and frightful excess on the part of the king, whose 
suspicious and remorseless character was but too well known 
to them ? We rest in the latter conclusion. 

But still, how comes it to pass that the tidings of what had 
happened should be so new and surprising at Jerusalem, aftei 



VISIT OF THE MAGI. 119 

the publication of the fact to and by the shepherds, and after 
the open declarations by Simeon and Anna in the temple 
itself ? Something of it must have been heard ; but as it seemed 
to refer to poor and obscure persons, it was but little regarded. 
But now when distinguished foreigners came from afar, in some 
state, and furnished with valuable presents, to make inquiries, 
the case is altered, and that which had before been little heeded, 
becomes at once a matter of serious consequence. 

Herod at once saw that " the King of the Jews," for whom 
the magi inquired, could be no other than the Messiah ; his 
first step was therefore to summon the priests and scribes to 
obtain their authoritative decision as to the place where the 
Messiah was to be born. They at once named Bethlehem, 
quoting Micah v. 2, as the decisive text on the question. And 
here it may be noted that the body which gave this very sat- 
isfactory information respecting the place from which the Mes- 
siah was to come, was the same body which in a later day 
declared of Jesus : " We know this man whence He is ; but 
when Christ cometh, no man knoweth whence he is. (John 
vii. 21.) 

The information he had obtained was made known by Herod 
to the magians ; but he suffered them not to depart until in a 
private audience he had enjoined them to return to Jerusalem, 
to bring him word respecting the illustrious infant, that he 
also might repair thither to render him homage, and to iay 
his honors at the feet of the true heir of David's royal house. 

As the sages approached Bethlehem, they beheld again, 
with gladness, the star of which so much has been said already, 
and which spared them all trouble of inquiry, of search, or of 
circumstantial identification, by hovering over the house in 
which the humble pair had found refuge with the child. This, 
as we have already urged, shows that the star must have been 
some meteor low in the atmosphere, and not one of the fixed 
stars. Nor was this further appearance of the meteor needless ; 
for the shepherds having withdrawn to the pastures, there 
were probably none among those whom the sages met in the 
streets at Bethlehem who could tell them anything of persons 



120 THIRTIETH WEEK THURSDAY, 

so obscure, or who, if they knew this, would recognise the child 
under such a designation as that which the stranger gave. 
And, besides this, the indication given by the star, by precluding 
the need of inquiry through the place, materially contributed 
to the safety of the child, imperiled as it no was by the fears 
and jealousy of the reigning tyrant. 

Through the representations which painters have given of 
this scene, the impression has grown up, that the sages found 
the family still in the stable, and the babe lying in the manger. 
Indeed, the shepherds are often introduced into the scene, and 
even a cow or two, and perhaps a donkey, to complete the 
effect. But painters are bad interpreters of Scripture scenes, 
caring more for the picturesque than for the true, and being 
in general but too ready to sacrifice the one to the other. In 
this case the opportunity of contrasting the magnificence of the 
of the " three kings" in " barbaric pearl and gold," with the 
homeliness of the stable and the roughness of the shepherds, 
has not often been resisted, though it must be obvious that the 
sages made a journey — probably a long one — to the spot, sub- 
sequent to the time at which the shepherds had seen the infant 
Saviour. Indeed, we have all along assumed that it took 
place more than a month after, — that is, after Joseph and Mary 
had returned from presenting the child in the temple, and per- 
forming the rites of purification. In this interval, the crowds 
who were at Bethlehem at the time of the Nativity must have 
taken their departure, leaving the place comparatively empty ; 
and it was no longer needful to remain in the stable, or diffi- 
cult to obtain such lodging as they desired. They, therefore, 
doubtless removed from the stable to the khan itself, or as 
probably to some humble dwelling in the town that might 
happen to be vacant. 

For the obscure circumstances in which they found the in- 
fant they had come so far to honor, the strangers must in some 
measure have been prepared, by what had happened to them 
at Jerusalem ; and being, on the best evidence, assured that 
they had indeed found Him whom they sought, and to whose 
birth the very heavens had borne witness, they bowed to the 



VISIT OF THE MAGI. 121 

decrees of Providence— though so mysterious, and so contrary 
to what, on natural calculation, they had expected — and bent 
low in homage before the holy child. It is said in the author- 
ized version, that they "fell down and worshipped Him." 
The term rendered " worship," indicates the posture of pros- 
tration which was usual to the people of the East, both in pay- 
ing divine adoration to the Deity, and in manifesting reverence 
for their kings; and, in like manner, our English word "wor- 
ship" bore the twofold signification of respect and of adoration 
at the time our translation was made. So, in a contemporary 
publication,* there are four significations given to the word, 
and the first is, " Civill reverence due unto men for their au- 
thorise and gifts. Matt. ix. 18, — 'There came a certain ruler 
andj worshipped him.' This is civil reverence." This sense of 
the word is now obsolete, though a relict of it is preserved 
from those times in the formal designation of certain magis- 
trates and other functionaries, as "Right worshipful," and 
" Worshipful ;" and in addressing them as " Your worship." 
Seeing that his divine character formed no part of the popular 
expectation of the Messiah then entertained by either Jews or 
Gentiles, there seems no reason to suppose that the worship 
rendered by the magians was any other than the highest civil 
homage. Yet we know not to what extent they may have 
been specially enlightened in this matter ; and it is certain 
that the Christians from x a very early date deduced, either 
from this adoration, or from the gifts offered, or from both, an 
argument even then that Christ was God.f 

The universal usage of the East not to approach the pre- 
sence of a superior, particularly a sovereign, without some 
valuable gift, found expression in the costly but portable offer- 

* A Christian Dictionary, — opening the Signification of the chief 
Words dispersed generally through Holy Scriptures of the Old ana 
New Testament, tending to increase Christian Knowledge. By Thomas 
Wilson, Minister of the Word at St. George's, in Canterbury. Lon- 
don : Printed by William Jaggard, dwelling in Barbican. First edi- 
tion, 1611 ; third, 1622. 
f So Irenaeus, Justin Martyr, Tertullian, Origen, etc. 
VOL. Ill 6 



} 22 THIRTIETH WEEK FRIDAY. 

ings of gold, myrrh, and frankincense which these eastern sages 
offered to the infant Messiah. The nature of these articles has 
been supposed to supply an additional argument for the con- 
clusion that they came from Arabia, as these were usually re- 
garded as the produce of that country. But, in fact, gold, 
myrrh, and frankincense were too much diffused through the 
East, and, from their value, were too generally used as pre- 
sents to superiors, to indicate with any certainty the quarter 
from which the magi came, and leave open the other grounds 
on which we conclude that they came, not from Arabia, but 
from the regions beyond the Euphrates. 



THIRTIETH WEEK— FRIDAY. 

A CHRONOLOGICAL QUESTION. MATT. II. IS ; LUKE II. 39. 

It will be observed that the evangelist Luke, after recording 
the circumstances which attended the presentation of the Lord 
in the temple, adds, " and when they had performed all things 
according to the law of the Lord, they returned into Galilee, 
to their own city Nazareth." He says nothing about the visit 
of the magi to Bethlehem and its consequences, with the flight 
to, and sojourn in, Egypt. On the other hand, Matthew re- 
lates nothing of the circumstances which led Joseph and Mary 
to Bethlehem (though he states that Jesus was born there), 
nor of the presentation in the Temple ; and seems to send 
them at once from Bethlehem to Egypt soon after the visit of 
the magi. 

This has raised the question — involving one of the greatest 
difficulties in harmonizing the gospel narratives — in what order 
we are to place the events which, reciprocally, one of these two 
evangelists omits, and the other relates ; or, in other words, 
whether the presentation in the Temple was before or after the 
visit of the magi. We, as the result of much inquiry and care- 
ful investigation, have related the former event as anterior to 



A CHRONOLOGICAL QUESTION. 123 

the latter; and we feel inclined to lay the arguments on both 
sides before the reader, as a specimen of the sort of investiga- 
tions which lie in the way of a person who undertakes to re- 
duce four original narratives of the same history into one, or 
to bring into chronological order the events which they sever- 
ally relate. Questions of this nature are rather numerous, 
and sometimes important ; and respecting all of these, a writer 
dealing thus withe th history must make up his mind before 
he can hazard a simple statement, which in itself affords no 
trace or memorial of the investigations through which alone it 
could be reached. 

That the visit of the magi was prior to the presentation at 
the temple, has been by many thought to be rendered probable 
by the fact, that the public declaration of Simeon in the tem- 
ple on that occasion, and the concurrence and reports of a wo- 
man so well known as Anna, do not accord with the surprise 
felt by Herod at the inquiries of the strangers, and the general 
ignorance that seems to have prevailed on the subject It is 
further remarked that no adequate reason appears why the 
family should have returned to Bethlehem, where the magi 
found them, after the presentation in the temple ; but it would 
seem more reasonable that, as the words employed by Luke 
appear to intimate, they would return to their home at Naza- 
reth when all that the law required had been performed. 

To the first of these reasons for the priority of the visit of 
the magi, it may be answered, that we do not at all know the 
real degree of publicity involved in the declarations of Simeon 
and Anna, or that the inquiries of the magi would at the 
instant of time come to the knowledge of the persons cognizant 
of the previous circumstances. And if known to many, Herod 
is the last person likely to have heard of them; for there 
must have been a general reluctance to disclose to one, whose 
wrath was but too well known to be cruel as the grave, any 
circumstances which might tend to awaken his jealousy or 
suspicion. The priests who were summoned to council were 
only asked where Christ should be born, and they answered 
rightly, at Bethlehem. This was all thev were asked, and all 



124 THIRTIETH WEEK FRIDAY. 

they needed to answer ; and if, among the priests present, 
there were some acquainted with what had taken place at the 
presentation, they would have been little likely to volunteer 
the information. Indeed, we apprehend that if the whole city 
had known these circumstances, there would have been a 
general feeling to keep them from the knowledge of Herod, 
and to guard from him the life of the infant Messiah. The 
dominion of the Herodian family was hateful to the people, 
who longed for the time when it should be brought to a clos:., 
as was expected, by the Messiah. There would have been, we 
may suppose, every disposition to regard the new-born child as 
the long-hoped-for son of David. He was of David's line ; He 
was born at Bethlehem ; and his birth was not wanting in 
signal manifestations. These facts — some of them obscured 
by the time our Lord commenced his public career, might then 
have been easily ascertained. At that time, therefore, there 
could have been none of that prepossession against his claim 
which existed thirty years later, when these circumstances of 
his early history had gone out of knowledge, and when a 
prejudice had been excited by his declaring — to the utter 
frustration of the popular views and objects — that his kingdom 
was not of this world. 

As to the return to Bethlehem, we must remember that it 
was very near to Jerusalem — not above six miles off. It is, 
therefore, quite probable that Joseph and Mary would first go 
up some morning to the temple, and then return to Bethlehem 
to settle their little affairs before returning home finally to the 
distant Nazareth. Or, as it occurs to us, one of the three 
annual festivals may have been near at hand ; and in that 
case they would naturally have wished to remain in the neigh- 
borhood, in order to attend it before returning to their home. 
It is, however, quite possible that Joseph had, during his pro- 
tracted stay in his paternal town, seen - reasons for concluding 
to make it the place of his future residence. Remembering 
that Christ was to come from this place, he might naturally 
desire to render this fact evident concerning Jesus, by remov- 
ing there; and the policy of this is demonstrated bv the 



A CHRONOLOGICAL QUESTION. 125 

reproach which Jesus afterwards incurred, as riot having 
apparently come from Bethlehem, but from Nazareth in 
Galilee, " out of which ariseth no prophet." As a compara- 
tively poor man, he must necessarily have sought employment 
at his trade during his first stay at Bethlehem, and this may 
have been so much better than he had found at Nazareth, as 
to encourage his purpose of remaining in the city of his 
fathers' sepulchres. This is not mere conjecture ; for we find 
that, when Joseph returned with his family from Egypt, it was 
his intention to remain in Judea, doubtless at Bethlehem ; and 
it was only the information he received as to the state of 
affairs in that dominion which induced him to proceed into 
Galilee, to his former place of residence at Nazareth. 

The strongest argument for the priority of the presentation, 
seems to be found in the offering which was made on that oc- 
casion, which was that prescribed for poor persons, and this 
would not have been necessary had they then been in posses- 
sion of the valuable gifts of " the wise men from the East." 
Surely they could then have afforded the lamb for an offering, 
and would have rejoiced to have this in their power. 

Again : is it likely that, after the jealousy of Herod had been 
awakened, and after the magi had been directed to return homo 
by another way, Joseph and Mary would have been allowed, 
by going to Jerusalem at that particular time, to run into the 
very jaws of danger, and when the declarations of Simeon and 
Anna, which would then have acquired immense importance, 
would have at once pointed the child out to those who sought 
his life? 

We are, besides, expressly told that, after the visit of the 
magi, the parents were supernaturally directed to withdraw 
into Egypt, for the very purpose of evading the danger to which 
a visit to Jerusalem would at that time have exposed them. 

What then becomes of Luke's assertion, that they went to 
Nazareth after having done, respecting the infant, all that the 
law required ? Well, and so they did ; but not until after other 
circumstances had taken place, which Luke does not himself 
record, but Matthew does. In all concise historians, a connec- 



126 THIRTIETH WEEK— SATURDAY. 

tion is thus apparently given, by the omission of intervening par- 
ticulars, to events that were really distant. Other instances of 
this occur in the gospels. Thus, in Luke xxi. 7, etc., Jesus' 
prophecy seems immediately connected with the observations in 
verses 5, 6 ; and yet that there was some intervening time, and 
that the scene was not the temple, but the Mount of Olives, 
which commanded a full view of the temple, is apparent from 
Matt. xxiv. 3 ; Mark xiii. 3. So likewise in Luke xxiv. 50, the 
ascension of Christ seems connected with his appearance to the 
apostles on the first day of the resurrection ; and yet the same 
evangelist tells us himself, in Acts i. 3, that forty days inter- 
vened. Again : the journey into Galilee, mentioned in Matt. 
iv. 12, Mark i. 14, Luke iv. 14, seems to have immediately fol- 
lowed the temptation ; and yet St. John acquaints us with 
many intermediate facts, — such as the testimony of John the 
Baptist, the conversion of Andrew, Simeon, Philip, and Natha- 
nael, a journey into Galilee, a miracle at Cana, attendance at 
the Passover, and baptising in Judea. There is also the re- 
markable instance in Acts ix. 19-26, where Paul's journey into 
Arabia, mentioned by himself in Gal. i. 17, is certainly passed 
over. It is obvious that, after so many clear instances — and 
there are more of the same kind— no argument for the priority 
of the visit of the magi can be drawn from the statement of 
Luke respecting the return to Nazareth after the due perform- 
ance of the legal ceremonials. 



THIRTIETH WEEK— SATURDAY. 

THE MASSACRE AT BETHLEHEM. MATTHEW II. 16-18. 

When Herod desired the Eastern sages to return to Jeru- 
salem to bring him word where they had found the new-born 
" King of the Jews," there can be no doubt that it was his 
secret purpose to destroy the child whom they might indi- 
cate. But when this secret purpose was prevented by their 



THE MASSACRE AT BETHLEHEM. 127 

departure " another way," there was good cause for him to un- 
derstand that an all-seeing and almighty Providence resisted 
his design. The strangers could not by any natural means — 
and all the less as they were strangers — have arrived at any 
suspicion of his intentions ; and apart from such, they must 
have had every wish to meet the desire of the king of the 
land, whose declared purpose was to render honor to the Mes- 
sianic infant. Kings are not used to ask for civilities in vain; 
and that these polite foreigners had paid no heed to his desire, 
afforded strong ground for concluding that they had been 
divinely warned against compromising the child's safety, or 
that they had by some means been permitted to gain posses- 
sion of the secret hid in Herod's heart. This should have de- 
terred him from his vain purpose of " dissolving the golden 
chain of predestination," by frustrating what he believed to be 
the purpose of God. " Herod believed the Divine oracles, fore- 
telling that a king should be born in Bethlehem ; and yet his 
ambition made him so stupid that he attempted to conceal the 
decree of Heaven. For if he did not believe the prophecies, 
why was he troubled ? If he did believe them, how could he 
possibly hinder the event which God had foretold Himself 
should certainly come to pass V* 

But since now his arrow could not be aimed definitely at 
the one infant in Bethlehem whose life he sought, the reckless 
tyrant, who was not accustomed to allow any considerations 
of human pity to stand for one moment in the way of his ob- 
jects, determined to destroy all the infants there, at one fell 
swoop, that the one life he sought might perish in the mas- 
sacre. This atrocious design was executed by the persons — 
soldiers probably — whom he sent with orders to kill all the 
children under two years old to be found in Bethlehem and its 
vicinity. " This execution was sad, cruel, and universal. No 
abatements were made for the dire shrieking of the mothers ; 
no tender-hearted soldier was employed ; no hard-hearted per- 
son was softened by the weeping eyes and pity-begging looks 
of those mothers, that wondered how it was possible that any 
* Jeremy Taylor. 



128 THIRTIETH WEEK SATURDAY. 

person should hurt their pretty sucklings; no connivances 
there, no protections, or friendships, or considerations, or indul- 
gences."* Painters and poets have labored to depict the hor- 
rors of the scene ; but nothing brings the result more vividly 
before the mind than the simple quotation from Jeremiah 
which the evangelist applies to the event. " In Rama was 
there a voice heard, lamentation and weeping, and great 
mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, and would not be 
comforted, because they are not." 

Exceptions have been taken to the account given of this 
transaction. Some of them are founded on misconceptions as 
to its nature, — as if it amounted to the massacre of hundreds, 
or even thousands, of children. Indeed, " the murder of the 
innocents," affords one remarkable example of the re-action of 
legendary extravagance upon the plain truth of the evangel- 
ical narrative. The Greek church canonized them as 14,000 
innocents ;f and another notion, founded upon a misconcep- 
tion of Rev. xiv. 4, swelled the number to 144,000. This 
gross error has not escaped the notice of the various acute ad- 
versaries of Christianity, who, by impeaching this extravagant 
tale, sought to bring the gospel narrative into discredit. In 
truth, however, Bethlehem was at that time, as it has indeed 
always been, merely a village, in which the number of infants 
must have been very small ; and it would be extravagant to 
suppose that more than 25 children perished on this occasion, 
and it is quite possible that they may have been somewhat 
fewer. 

It has also been urged, that not even Herod was likely to 
commit such an atrocity as this. But it is easy to show, that it 
was not only likely that he should do so, but that this act of 
blind and senseless fury, worthy of an insane tyrant, is a trait 
perfectly and signally in unison with what we know of his 

* Jeremy Taylor. 

f They are also canonized in the Romish church, which assigns a 
commemorative festival to them on December 28. They are canon- 
ized as martyrs, " because they lost their lives in the cause of Jesus 
Christ." — Les Vies des Saints, ii. 492. Paris, 1734. 



THE MASSACRE AT BETHLEHEM. 129 

character. Neander has stated this with great force and effect. 
" It was that Herod whose crimes, committed in violation of 
every natural feeling", ever urged him on to new deeds of 
cruelty ; whose path to the throne, and whose throne itself, 
were stained with human blood ; whose vengeance against con- 
spirators, not satisfied with their own destruction, demanded 
that of their whole families ; whose rage was hot, up to the 
very hour of his death, against his nearest kindred ; whose 
wife, Mariamne, and three sons, Alexander, Aristobulus, and 
Antipater, fell victims to his suspicions — the last just before his 
death ; who, in a word, certainly deserved that the emperor 
Augustus should have said of him, — Herodis mallem porcus 
esse, quam jilius* It was that Herod who, at the close of a 
blood-stained life of seventy years, goaded by the furies of an 
evil conscience, racked by a painful and incurable disease, 
waiting for death, but desiring life, raging against God and 
man, and maddened by the thought that the Jews, instead of 
bewailing his death, would rejoice over it as the greatest of 
blessings, commanded the worthies of the nation to be assem- 
bled in the circus, and issued a secret order, that, after his 
death, they should be slain together, so that their kindred at 
least might have cause to weep at his death. Can we deem 
the sacrificing a few children to his rage and blind suspicion 
too atrocious for such a monster ?" 

These considerations meet all that can be urged as to the 
improbability of the transaction. But it has still been re- 
marked as a strange circumstance, that this signal atrocity is 
not mentioned by any contemporary writer. This does not 

* " It is better to be Herod's hog than his son :" — " Because," says 
Jeremy Taylor, " the custom of the nation did secure a hog from 
Herod's knife ; but no religion could secure his child." It is curious 
that, by an anachronism of Macrobius (a writer of the fourth century), 
these words are applied to the massacre at Bethlehem ; and it is, ac- 
cordingly, stated on this authority by Jeremy Taylor, and many others, 
that Herod's own son, Antipater, being at nurse in Bethlehem, was 
slain in the massacre. But Antipater, who was indeed slain about 
this time, so far from being a child, complains of his gray hairs. — 
Josephus. War, i. 33. 

6* 



130 THIRTIETH WEEK SATURDAY. 

amount to much; for the only writer who might be expected 
to mention it is Josephus, and very satisfactory reasons can be 
given for his silence. This historian, indeed, reports many 
great public atrocities of Herod ; but he does not catalogue 
his crimes, he merely records them as involved in the course 
of his narrative, and the sequence of events. The massacre at 
Bethlehem was much of an isolated act, not involved in the 
chain of historical events, and which, as it could not be men- 
tioned without explanatory particulars he would wish to avoid, 
would be easily passed over ; and there were reasons for pass- 
ing it over — just as some of the evangelists themselves some- 
times pass over matters that others record. It might, besides, 
not seem to Josephus a matter of much importance in com- 
parison with the great public atrocities of Herod's career which 
he records ; and as happening at an obscure place, and as un- 
attended with apparent consequences, he would consider it 
needless to introduce it into his history. 

Perhaps he did not know it. He was not a contemporary, 
and could not know every thing ; and the event was probably 
one of which no public record existed. The orders of Herod 
were probably secretly given ; and were executed as quietly as 
the nature of the case allowed. It was important in Christian 
history, and is therefore recorded by Matthew ; but was not 
seemingly important in Jewish history, and is therefore not 
recorded by Josephus. 

Besides, who is Josephus, that so much stress should be 
laid upon his silence ? Inspiration apart, is not Matthew as 
fully entitled to credit as a historian as he ? We should be- 
lieve Matthew even if he contradicted Josephus, and much 
more when he only states what Josephus does not deny, and 
what he has rendered probable by what he does state concern- 
ing that character of the tyrant, to whom this black and bloody 
deed is ascribed in the evangelical narrative. 



GODS RETRIBUTIONS. 131 



god's RETRIBUTIONS.— MATTHEW II. 8. 

There are many points profitably observable in the circum- 
stances which have just passed under our notice. 

The pretence of a kind of religious zeal on the part of 
Herod, to honor One whom God had honored, while there 
was nothing but hatred and destruction in his heart, forcibly 
arrests attention. Misapprehending the character and functions 
of the Messiah, as he and most others did, it is not to be sup- 
posed that the " worship" he affected to be ready to offer was 
religious homage. It had, however, a professedly religious 
foundation, seeing that it was only because this Messiah 
had been appointed in the predeterminate counsels of God, 
and had been the subject of great and glorious prophecies, 
that the king proposed to pay Him this attention. It is thus 
that wicked men often cloak their most atrocious designs 
under the pretence of zeal for religion and for the honor of 
God. And, indeed, some of the most horrible deeds and 
designs which history has recorded, have had either the reality 
of a mistaken zeal for a false religion, or the pretence of zeal 
for a true religion. And it is observable, that, whether the 
zeal be true or assumed for the occasion, the concomitants of 
treachery — of luring the innocent to their ruin, and of sur- 
prising the unwary to their destruction — are as apparent as in 
the plot of Herod against the life of the new-born Messiah, 
and are as remorseless and sanguinary as the massacre in 
which that plot resulted. Who can help thinking of the St. 
Bartholomew massacre, of the Gunpowder Plot, of the per- 
secutions of the Waldenses, and other dark doings of the like 
nature, which had the interests of religion for their motive or 
their pretence ? And let us not think that the Herodian spirit 
in which such deeds originated, is to be counted among the 
darknesses of a past age, and finds no response in our own. 
It is far otherwise. That spirit still lives ; and, although it 



132 THIRTY-FIRST WEEK SUNDAY. 

reigns not, yet it is sleepless, and watches but for occasion to 
rush forth and rend God's flock as of old ; and even now so 
far is it, as some fondly believe, from hanging its head in 
shame and grief at these old dishonors, it lifts its head on 
high, and vaunts of them as things to glory in, and to uphold 
for imitation. In proof of this, we need but point to a 
pamphlet which has just, as we write this, made its appear- 
ance.* In the postscript, the author appeals to the facts of 
history, "which show how greatly the true faith has been 
indebted for its prosperity and purity to the civil power. This 
has been witnessed, not only in the Papal States themselves, 
but in many other Catholic countries. How eminently (for 
instance) was the church preserved from corruption, as well as 
the best interests of France promoted, by that notable act of 
Charles IX., when he almost annihilated heresy in his domin- 
ions by the celebrated massacre of the Huguenots, on the 
feast of St. Bartholomew, and for which signal overthrow of 
the church's enemies, a solemn mass, and general thanksgiving, 
were ordered by the Pope ! 

" Who can estimate all the benefits, spiritual and temporal, 
that resulted to the same country from the zeal of Louis XIV., 
when he extirpated the Protestants by the revocation of the 
edict of Nantes, passed by. that impolitic monarch Henry IV. ? 

" What special tokens, too, of the Divine favor has Spain 
enjoyed by the same means ! This has been triumphantly 
brought forward by Francisco de Pisa. Our Lord God (says 
he) has been pleased to preserve these kingdoms in the purity 
of the faith, like a terrestial paradise, by means of the cherubim 
of the holy office [the inquisition] ; which, with its sword of 
fire, has defended the entrance, through the merits and 
patronage of the serenest Virgin Mary, the mother of God." 

There is, however, One who views these things differently, 
and takes a different account of the Herods of the world and 
their deeds ; and who seldom fails, even in this life, to make 

* An Appeal for the Erection of Catholic Churches in the Rural 
Districts of England. By the Catholic Bishop of Bantry, for Behalf 
of the Society "De Propaganda Fide." London, 1852. 



GOD'S RETRIBUTIONS. 133 

manifest, by signal retributions, his judgment of signal wicked- 
ness and wrong-doing. Men, under the influence of their 
interests, their passions, and their prejudices, may, and often 
do, call evil good, and good evil. But there is but one judg- 
ment with that God, who views all that men do or think, in 
the nakedness of their motives and their aims ; and those who 
narrowly observe the final results of great acts of atrocity, or 
of an atrocious course of conduct or character — especially 
where religious zeal has been the* pretence or motive — cannot 
fail to discern the marks of his indignation burnt deep into 
them. And the reason, with regard to the latter class of 
crimes, is plain, — because his great name is dishonored by the 
pretence of zeal for his glory as a cover for heinous deeds ; 
and it becomes Him, for his honor, to disavow all complicity 
with those who dare to smite with the fist of wickedness in his 
name. How God set that mark upon the career of Herod, 
and especially on this part of it, in his death, we shall soon 
have occasion to show ; and it cannot fail to be noticed, that 
the hero of the Bartholomew massacre went howling to his 
grave under the tortures and dishonors of a like death, — a 
death which will appear, in many signal instances, to have 
been much used by the Lord for the punishment of the san- 
guinary and blasphemous tyrants of the earth, — of those who, 
by afflicting his people on account of their religion, by arro- 
gating divine honors to themselves, or by using his name as a 
cloak for deeds of blood, have marked themselveTout for such 
marked retributions as might let the world know, that verily 
there is " a God that judgeth in the earth" — in the earth, for 
all judgment is not left for the world to come. Charles IX. 
was consumed by a slow malignant fever, and the disease from 
day to day manifested new and unknown symptoms of pain 
and horror, — till at length, in his last agonies, his blood was 
brought into such a state that it exuded freely from all the 
pores of his skin, rendering him an object most awful to look 
upon. It is said that a new star was seen soon after the mas- 
sacre ; and whatever be thought of the nature of the fact, it 
was certainly a matter of contemporary belief; for the specu 



134 THIRTY-FIRST WEEK — SUNDAY. 

lations excited as to the purport of the omen — speculations 
various according to the humors of the times — still remain. 
Beza boldly asserted, that it portended the speedy death of 
" the bloody Herod," by whom that massacre had been ordered, 
and was freely censured for that opinion ; but when it was soon 
after verified by the extraordinary manner in which the king 
was smitten down in the vigor and prime of life, men changed 
their minds, and said that Beza was a prophet. 

It is well also to observe, from this procedure of Herod, that 
all wickedness is useless. No permanent good, no solid advan- 
tage, was ever secured but by good and righteous means. All 
the trouble, all the crime, that Herod chose to incur, and for 
which he brought upon himself most grievous retributions in 
mind, body, and estate, were utterly abortive with regard to 
the object he had in view. And it was abortive doubly. His 
object was not only frustrated by the eventual escape of the 
child at whose life his shaft was directed ; but had he indeed, 
instead of pursuing that life, gone and rendered to the Divine 
child the homage he professed to be ready to offer, this would 
in no wise have endangered those temporal interests of his own 
which engaged all his solicitude. " The child Jesus was indeed 
born a king. But it was a king of all the world, not confined 
wkhin the limits of a province, like the weaker beauties of a 
torch, to shine in one room, but, like the sun, his empire was 
over all the world ; and if Herod would have become but his 
tributary, and paid Him the acknowledgments of his Lord, he 
would have had better conditions than under Caesar, and yet 
have been as absolute in his own Jewry as he was before. His 
kingdom was not of this world ; and He that gives heavenly 
kingdoms to all his servants would not have stooped to pick 
up Herod's petty coronet ; but as it is a very vanity which 
ambition seeks, so it is a shadow that disturbs and discomposes 
all its motions and apprehensions."* 

Christ came to die, and not to reign, or but to reign by 
dying. Herod's wrath did, therefore, but subserve the real 
purposes of God, which could not have been advanced by the 
patronage or homage of a Herod, or of any other king. 

* Jeremy- Tatlou. Great Exemplar, p. 105. 



FLIGHT INTO EGYPT. 135 

THIRTY-FIRST WEEK— MONDAY. 

FLIGHT INTO EGYPT. MATTHEW II. 13-15. 

Herod probably rested in the notion, that his object had 
been accomplished, and that the dreaded child had perished 
among the infants slain at Bethlehem. But it was not for his 
breath to quench the orb of day, or for any decree or act of his 
to frustrate the purposes and acts of God. Joseph had been 
timeously warned in a dream to take the young child and his 
mother, and withdraw with them to Egypt ; and they were 
either there, or on their way thither, at the time when the cries 
of mothers, reft of their little ones, rang piteously through the 
narrow streets of Bethlehem. Not this sword, but another as 
sharp, was the one destined, at a later day, to " pierce through 
the soul" of the mother of Jesus. 

The evangelists furnish none of the incidents of this journey. 
This silence of authentic history has been actively supplied by 
legends and traditions, which are, in a certain point of view, 
interesting, or rather curious, as showing what kind of narra- 
tives of our Lord's life we should have had, in exchange for the 
noble simplicity of the gospels, if men had been left to their 
own devices under the influence of the exaggerations of the 
oriental and the legendary spirit. If the narrative of our Lord's 
life and death had not been furnished by contemporary his- 
torians, but had been produced a generation or two later ; and 
if the then writers had been left to themselves, we certainly 
should not have had accounts so impregnable to all the assaults 
of adverse criticism as the narratives of Matthew, Mark, Luke, 
and John. We shall occasionally show this by citing some 
of the legendary anecdotes, which, of course, are most abundant 
where the Scripture is silent, as the legendary spirit could not 
so well work upon the facts recorded by the evangelists, as in 
supplying information which they might be supposed to have 
omitted, or in adding to the existing narrative details which 
they might be conceived to have passed over. 

The painters, who are great conservators of traditions, have 



136 THIRTY-FIRST WEEK MONDAY. 

made us familiar with the idea that the journey was performed 
by the aid of an ass, on which the mother and child rode, while 
Joseph trudged on beside, before, or behind it. This is not 
unlikely ; as it is usual for a woman to ride upon an ass, while 
a man drives it along. They are always driven from behind, 
not led by a halter, and, therefore, this circumstance of the 
pictured " flight into Egypt" is not true to nature. An ass, or 
even a mule, might easily have been purchased for the journey 
with the gifts of the magi ; and the probability is, that they 
travelled not alone, but in company with others journeying in 
the same direction, whom they may have joined on the road, 
if they did not start with them. Such journeys are scarcely 
ever performed but in companies ; and as the intercourse be- 
tween Egypt and Palestine was in that age very active, com- 
panies of travellers were continually passing one way or the 
other. 

The local traditions are the most curious, because, being 
connected with places, they retain a stronger hold than any 
other. The only traditions of this sort that we know have been 
matters of firm belief among Latin and Greek Christians, which 
has not been the case with the merely written traditions as 
embodied in Apocryphal gospels and the like accounts. 

One of these, however, concerns rather the journeys between 
Jerusalem and Bethlehem, than the flight into Egypt. About 
midway on this road stood formerly an old terebinth tree, which 
travellers, who saw it standing three hundred years ago arM, 
upwards, declare to have been the noblest and loftiest tree of 
the kind they ever beheld.* A tree like this, in such a place, 
could not fail to have some tradition connected with it. Indeed, 
we should not have been surprised had we been told that David 
had rested under its shade, with his bread and cheese laden ass. 
on his way to the camp of Saul. All that was affirmed, how- 
ever, was, that beneath the spreading branches of this very 
tree, the virgin mother and her Divine child rested on the way 

* So Rauwolff, who saw it in 1575, and is, we think, the last trav- 
eller who saw it actually growing. — Ray's Collection of Travels, i. 374. 
London, 1693 



FLIGHT INTO EGYPT. 



137 



between Jerusalem and Bethlehem ; and in this belief the tree 
was highly reverenced by pilgrims for many ages. Not con- 
tent with this simple statement, which had probability enough 
in its favor on the supposition (itself untenable), that the tree 
had been equally conspicuous and magnificent at an era so 
remote, — the tradition goes on to spoil all by informing us, 
that the tree bent down its branches as if in adoration of, or as 
if more effectually to shade its Creator, whom it recognised in 
that infant child nestled in his mother's arms. Nor was this 




the only marvel related of the tree ; for we are assured by 
Romish travellers that it was avouched by a Moslem shepherd, 
that he had seen it covered with flames, but they speedily dis- 
appeared ; and when he proceeded to examine it, he found it 
not only uninjured, but the foliage more freshly green than it 
had been before. This tree is not to be seen now ; for what 
the fire of heaven had respected, the fire of earth had not. 
Some mischievous shepherds had kindled a fire around the 
trunk, whereby the tree was killed, and in great part consumed. 
The remainder was manufactured by the monks into crosses 



138 THIRTY-FIRST WEEK MONDAY. 

and chaplets, and distributed as articles of great worta and 
value. The prime mover in the profanation died the xJght 
after, as if by the judgment of Heaven. It is added that many 
attempts to plant another terebinth tree upon the spot had 
been made without effect, as the young plants would not take 
root ; but an olive tree had sprung up of its own accord, and 
had at length been accepted as a substitute. We owe this 
curious information to persons who travelled towards the close 
of the seventeenth century, in the early part of which the tree 
seems to have been destroyed.* 

Another memorial of the holy family's travels was also sup- 
posed to be found on the same road, nearer to Bethlehem, in 
a locality where the small stones or pebbles bore some resem- 
blance to chick-peas, — a fact which, no doubt, suggested the 
legend. It was alleged that a whole crop of this useful legume 
was turned to stone, because the churlish proprietor refused a 
handful of the peas to the Virgin upon one of her journeys be- 
tween Jerusalem and Bethlehem. Rauwolff, whom we lately 
cited, gives a somewhat different version of the story : " About 
half way, you pass over a hill, on the top whereof you may see 
both towns, Jerusalem and Bethlehem. Before you is a large 
valley, which, although it be rocky, yet it is fruitful, both of 
corn and wine. In it, towards the right hand, near the road, is 
an acre [a field], called the Cicer Field, which had its name (I 
was informed) from the following transaction : It is said that, 
when Christ went by at a certain time, and saw a man that 
was sowing cicers, he did speak to him kindly, and asked him 
what he was sowing there ; the man answered scornfully, and 
he said, ' He sowed small stones.' * Then let it be,' said our 
Lord, ' that thou reap the same seed thou so west.' So they 
say that, at harvest time, he found, instead of the cicer 
peas, nothing but small pebbles in shape, and color, and big- 
ness, like unto them exactly. Now, whether there be anything 

* Relatione Historique d'un Voyage Noiwellement fait au Mont de 
Binai et a Jerusalem. Par le Sieur A. Mobjson. 1704. 

Voyage Nouveau de la Terrc Sainte. Par le R. P. Nau, de la Com 
pagnie de Jesus. Paris, 1744. The journey was made in 1675. 



FLIGHT INTO EGYPT. 



139 



of truth in it or no, I cannot affirm ; but this I must say, that 
there are to this day such stones found in the field. For 
as we went by, some of us went into it, and did gather a great 
many of them, that were in bigness, shape, and color, so like 
unto these cicers (by the Arabians called ommos, and in Latin 
cicer arietanum), that we could hardly distinguish them from 
natural ones." 

Another local memorial, like to the first of these, was found at 
Matarieh, on the border of Egypt, in a tree beneath which the 
holy family reposed upon their arrival in that country, and 
which like the terebinth, bent down its branches in homage to 
them. This tree, which is a sycamore, still exists, and we have 
succeeded in finding a representation of it, being, we apprehend, 
the only one extant, in Dr. William Holt Yates' work on 
Egypt,* from which the figure we give is copied. Near this is 




a celebrated well, called Ain Shems, or Fountain of the Sun, con- 
cerning which there is a superstitious legend of the Latins, that 
it suddenly appeared to meet the wants of the holy family in 
the retreat they had chosen. " In order to visit this well," says 
Dr. Yates, " we turned a little out of the beaten track, and en- 



* Modern History and Condition of Egypt. 
M. D. London, 1843. 



By W. Holt Yates, 



140 THIRTY-FIRST WEEK MONDAY 

tered a tolerably thick plantation on the right, where, in the 
midst of date trees, citrons, etc., we reclined beneath a vener- 
able sycamore, supposed to be the identical tree whose wide- 
spreading branches afforded shelter to the holy fugitives from 
the parching rays of the sun. It is cut in all directions, and 
has been denominated ' the tree of the Madona.' Its shape is 
singular ; it is very large, and the upper part of it has been 
blown down or struck by lightning ; a number of young 
branches grow out from the top of that which remains. It is, 
beyond all doubt, very aged, and there is nothing inconsistent 
in the idea, that the Virgin did seek an asylum beneath its 
branches. She was as likely to chose this tree as any other ; 
and we know very well that the sycamore sometimes lives to a 
most astonishing age." On this we have to remark only, that 
a tree may be of "great age," without being 1850 years old, 
which is an utterly improbable duration for such a tree as the 
sycamore. Besides, although of great age now, and, conse- 
quently, of great size, it must, if it existed at all, have been 
young at the time of the flight into Egypt, and there must then 
have been older and larger trees, long since perished, more 
likely to be chosen for the purpose of shade and shelter. But 
it is useless to examine critically questions respecting which no 
real evidence exists. It may be added, however, the local le- 
gend merely assumes this to be the same tree which is mention- 
ed in the Apocryphal gospel of the Infancy, which, with other 
spurious productions of the same class, is known to have ex- 
isted in the early ages of Christianity. In this curious perform- 
ance we read : " Hence they went into the sycamore which is 
now called Matarea ; and in Matarea the Lord Jesus caused a 
well to spring forth, in which St. Mary washed his coat ; and a 
balsam is produced, or grows, in that country, from the sweat 
which run down there from the Lord Jesus." And this is, no 
doubt, the same legend to which Sozomen, in his Ecclesiastical 
History, refers : " They say, that at Hermopolis, which is a 
town of Thebais, there is a tree called Persis, of which either 
the fruit or leaves, or any small piece of the bark, brought near 
to sick persons, has cured many. For it is said that Joseph, 



THE REPOSE IN EGYPT. 141 

when he fled with Christ and Mary for fear of Herod, came to 
Hermopolis, and that, as soon as he came near the gate, that 
tree, though a very great one, was moved at Christ's coming 
by, and bowed down to the ground and worshipped Christ." 
He adds, that he supposes the tree was an idol [trees often 
were idols], and that the devil was affrighted at Christ's com- 
ing, and fled the tree ; and satan being thus cast out, the tree 
remained to be a witness of the fact, and to cure believers of 
their diseases. To this, and to the alleged downfall of the 
idols of Egypt on the same occasion, this writer and others ap- 
ply the text Isaiah xix. 1, — " The idols of Egypt shall be moved 
at his presence." 



THIRTY-FIRST WEEK— TUESDAY 

THE REPOSE IN EGYPT. — MATTHEW II. 15. 

It has been already stated, that the duration of the stay of 
the holy family in Egypt is unknown, and cannot be deter- 
mined by any facts we possess. It is equally uncertain in what 
part of Egypt they resided ; and how Joseph employed his 
time there. For any increased expense which the journey to, 
and residence in, a strange country may have entailed, with the 
necessary outlay on the utensils of domestic life, and the pur- 
chase of carpenters' tools, a bountiful provision had been made 
by the gifts of the wise men ; and for the rest, if their stay was 
protracted the labor of Joseph in his useful trade may have 
sufficed ; for we may be sure that such a man, who probably 
expected that his absence from his own country would be longer 
than it really proved, would not be content to live upon his little 
capital if employment could be found ; nor could any induce- 
ment to another course exist among a people who held skilled 
labor in honor. 

But could it be pleasant to him to work with or for idola- 
trous Egyptians ? Without inquiring how far this might have 
been a discomfort to him, it may suffice to mention, that it was 



142 THIRTY-FIRST WEEK TUESDAY. 

not needful that he should do so, or probable that he did so. 
It explains this and other points in the position of the holy 
family in Egypt, to understand that Jews were settled in great 
numbers, and were in the enjoyment of high privileges, in that 
part of Egypt nearest to Palestine, which was doubtless the 
quarter to which Joseph repaired. These would afford em- 
ployment and support to a refugee from Palestine ; and even 
if they had known that he fled from Herod, it would have 
been nothing to his detriment — for Herod had no authority in 
Egypt, and he and his were hated by the Egyptian Jews fully 
as much as by his native subjects — with this difference, that, 
being at a safe distance, they regarded him with a degree of 
scorn and contempt mixed with their hatred, which the terrible 
reality of his power in Judea did not permit to be entertained there. 

In fact, the Jews were here so numerous, so privileged, and 
so free, that Joseph and Mary were, in Egypt, less alone among 
strangers than common readers may have supposed. The ex- 
traordinary monuments of ancient times — the great and still 
more ancient river, to which the largest streams they had ever 
before seen were but brooks — the exotic character of the vege- 
tation — the persons and attire of the dusky Egyptians — all 
these must have struck them greatly, and the outer aspects of 
the most sensuous of idolatries must have shocked their eyes. 
But then, as now, Jews everywhere sought out Jews in foreign 
lands, and had no social intercourse, and little if any inter- 
course but that of trade, with the natives ; and all beyond the 
circle of Jewish life was beheld vaguely as outer things, and 
passed before the eyes as a shadow or a dream. 

Not only were the Jews at this time a numerous, prosperous, 
and privileged class in that which had been to their fathers 
the house of bondage, but they had there a temple and priest- 
hood, after the model of that at Jerusalem. 

It came about in this manner : — 

After the downfall of the Persian empire, to which, from the 
captivity, the Jewish nation had been subject, the Ptolemies, 
who were Alexander's successors in Egypt, were for nearly two 
hundred years masters of Palestine ; and during that period 



THE KEPOSE IN EGYPT. 143 

Egypt once more became a place of refuge for the Jews, and 
one which afforded, to such as were commercially inclined, op- 
portunities of enrichment which their own country did not pre- 
sent. Alexandria had become, as its founder intended, what 
Tyre had been — the emporium of the world ; and naturally 
attracted in large numbers the Jews who, during the captivity, 
acquired those commercial tastes and habits which they have 
ever since maintained, and which has always given them so 
large a share in the traffic of the world. The tried courage in 
warfare, the fidelity to their political and civic engagements, 
and the enterprise and probity in commerce, which had been 
manifested by this people from the time of the captivity, had 
given them a high character, as valuable citizens, in the eyes 
of the first Ptolemy and some of his successors ; and their set- 
tlement in Egypt had been encouraged by the most distin- 
guished privileges, religious immunities, and civic rights. All 
this they continued to enjoy at the time of the flight into 
Egypt, although that country was then a province of Eome, 
and Jews found themselves virtually under the same supreme 
dominion wherever they went — unless into the far East. 

It was in the time of Ptolemy Philometor that the Jews in 
Egypt were enabled to obtain an ecclesiastical establishment 
of their own, which made them (although, indeed, schismatic- 
ally) independent of that at Jerusalem. It was in the reign 
of that king that Onias, whose father, the third high-priest of 
that name, had been murdered, fled into Egypt, and soon rose 
into high favor with Ptolemy, and Cleopatra the Queen. The 
high-priesthood of the temple at Jerusalem, which belonged 
of right to his family, having passed from it to that of the 
Maccabees by the nomination of Jonathan to this office in 153 
B.C., Onias used his influence with the court to procure the 
establishment of a temple and ritual in Egypt, which would 
accomplish a politically desirable object, like Jeroboam's estab- 
lishment at Dan and Bethel (bating the idolatry), of detaching 
the Egyptian Jews from their connection with, and dependence 
on, the temple at Jerusalem. This course might seem the 
more easy, as Onias in his own person represented the legal 



144 THIRTY-FIRST WEEK WEDNESDAY. 

priesthood ; and as the absence from the temple of Jerusalem 
of the distinguishing symbols of its ancient glory — the heaven- 
kindled fire, the ark, the divine radiance between the cheru- 
bim — rendered imitation more feasible, and seemingly less 
sacrilegious. Still it must have been felt as a doubtful course, 
by many even of the Egyptian Jews ; but Onias soothed their 
apprehensions by citing Isa. xix, 18, 19, as both a prediction 
and justification of this measure. 

Having obtained the consent of all parties concerned, Onias 
looked about for a suitable site, and fixed upon a ruined tem- 
ple of Bubastis, at Leontopolis, in the Heliopolitan nome, 
about twenty miles from Memphis ; and under his energetic 
proceedings the place was ere long converted into a sort of 
miniature Jerusalem, with an altar in imitation of that of the 
temple. Onias of course failed not to make himself high-priest ; 
and the king having assigned a tract of land for the mainten- 
ance of the worship at this temple (which subsisted till de- 
stroyed by Vespasian), the place soon became a centre of Jew- 
ish population in Egypt, only inferior in numbers to that in 
Alexandria, and more exclusively Jewish. This we the rather 
notice, as it is very generally supposed, and is in itself highly 
probable, that the holy family repaired to, and remained in, 
this neighborhood. 

The town here — this Egyptian Jerusalem — was called 
Onion, after the name of its founder. There are now at the 
place some scanty traces of an ancient site ; and the natives 
still preserve the tradition of its ancient appropriation in the 
name of Jew's Town, which they give to it. 



THIRTY-FIRST WEEK— WEDNESDAY. 

HEROD THE GREAT. MATT. II. 19-21. 

The death of Herod at length permitted the fugitives in 
Egypt to return to " the land of Israel." Having been super- 
naturally commanded to withdraw to that country, Joseph 



HEROD THE GREAT. 145 

would naturally shrink from returning on his own responsi- 
bility. He felt that he needed the same authority for return- 
ing to his own country as he had for quitting it. And this he 
speedily obtained, — an angel commanding him, in a dream or 
vision, to return to the land of Israel, for they were dead who 
sought the young child's life. It is quite possible — it is in 
deed likely from the terms of this intimation — that Joseph 
was the first person in Egypt who obtained this knowledge, 
which may, indeed, have been imparted the moment after 
Herod's guilty soul had passed from his body. Had the in- 
formation previously reached Egypt by the ordinary channels, 
the order to return would have sufficed, without the reason for 
it ; and the tidings of Herod's death would have been accom- 
panied by the information that Archelaus was his successor, 
which Joseph did not learn till he reached the borders of Judea. 
In this case he was spared the trouble of considering the pro- 
priety of returning, by the command to return being given, 
before he knew that the opportunity of returning was pre- 
sented. 

It is observable, that he was directed to return to " the land 
of Israel" — the most general description of the country possible 
— without any special designation of the part of that land to 
which he should direct his steps, although that eventually 
proved to be a matter of serious importance. This reminds us 
of the call of Abraham, who was summoned to quit his own 
country, for a land the Lord would show him, without that 
country being designated till some years after, when he was 
actually to proceed into it. Thus does the Lord love to en- 
courage child-like trust in Him, by affording just so much in- 
formation for our walk and way as may be needful for our 
present guidance; without encumbering us with so much 
information respecting final steps and ultimate results, as might 
only increase our anxieties, and wean us from that constant 
reference to Him in which our safety lies. In the same spirit 
we are taught to pray : " Give us this day our daily bread ;" 
not, " Give us this year our yearly bread." 

Herod was dead. And how died he ? The circumstances 

VOL. III. 1 



140 THIRTY-FIRST WEEK — WEDNESDAY. 

of his death are worth recording here, not only as showing the 
awfully Jit ending of a bad career, but as still further setting 
forth the correspondence of the man's character, with the infer- 
ences we naturally draw from the simple facts recorded in 
Scripture. It is indeed observable, here and elsewhere, how 
uniformly the sacred writers leave us to draw our own infer- 
ences respecting the characters of wicked men. They state the 
facts concerning them necessarily involved in their narratives, 
but they do not sit down to write characters of them, after the 
manner of common writers ; and still less do they shower upon 
their heads epithets of condemnation and abhorrence. So here, 
when in regard to the massacre at Bethlehem — the event by 
which alone Herod is known to the Scripture reader — one of 
the worst of men the world ever saw is represented as com- 
mitting one of the most awful of his many crimes, and yet there 
is not a single mark of exclamatory indignation ; no reference 
to those other parts of his conduct into which commentators 
and historians now naturally enter ; nor is anything stated that 
might lead to the knowledge, that his general conduct was not 
upright. There is, as Barnes remarks, " no wanton and malig- 
nant dragging him into the narrative, that they might gratify 
malice in making free with a very bad character. What was 
to their purpose, they record ; and what was not, they left to 
others. This is the nature of religion. It does not speak evil 
of others, except where necessary, nor then does it take pleas- 
ure in it." 

When the evangelists wrote the evil of Herod's life, the 
circumstances of that life had not, so far as we know, been 
published to the world, although matter of familiar knowledge 
to the people. But now that this has been done, the facts not 
referred to by them may be advantageously produced for the 
illustration or corroboration of the sacred historians. We shall, 
however, only call the attention of the reader to a few facts 
concerning his death — the life of Herod being too large a theme 
to be opened here. 

When Herod was seized with his last illness, he was sixty- 
nine years old ; and at that time his eldest son, Antipater, waa 



HEROD THE GREAT. 147 

tn confinement, having been convicted of treasonable crimes, 
but not executed until permission should be received from the 
Emperor Augustus. Meanwhile Herod grew worse. His dis- 
ease was of that excruciating and loathsome kind with which 
God, in his righteous judgments, has often afflicted and dishon- 
ored the endings of great and blasphemous tyrants. It was a 
fever, accompanied with violent internal heat. His intestines 
were ulcerated, the feet were swollen, and the tender parts were 
gangrened, and filled with worms. His breathing was oppres- 
sive, and horribly fetid, and he was subject to violent convul- 
sions ; yet, in the midst of all, he retained a most voracious 
appetite for food. The warm-baths of Callirrhoe, beyond the 
Jordan, were recommended by his physicians ; but this remedy 
being ineffectual, an oil-bath was ordered, which threw him 
into a fainting fit, and nearly proved fatal. He then gave up 
all hope of recovery ; and after having distributed presents 
among his soldiers and dependants, he returned from Callirrhoe 
to Jericho. The agonies of his disorder, the reproaches of his 
conscience, the disturbances in his family, and the peevishness 
of old age, increased the natural cruelty of his disposition. He 
knew that the Jews could have no reason to lament his death ; 
and he thought of a truly diabolical device to give them cause 
for grief. He sent orders throughout Judea, requiring the 
presence of all the chief men of the nation at Jericho, who, on 
their arrival, were consigned to imprisonment in the hippo- 
drome. Then summoning his sister Salome, and her husband 
Alexis, to his bed-side, he told them : ' • My life is now short. 
I know the Jewish people; and nothing will please them 
better than my death. You have their chiefs now in youi 
custody. As soon as the breath is out of my body, and before 
my death can be known, do you let in the soldiers upon them, 
and slay them. All Judea then, and every family, will, how- 
ever unwillingly, bewail my death." Josephus, to whom we owe 
this information, adds, " that with tears in his eyes he conjured 
them, by their love to him, and their fidelity to God, not to 
fail in securing this honor to his death !" 

About the same time Herod received the desired letter from 



148 THIRTY-FIRST WEEK — THURSDAY. 

the emperor, authorizing him to proceed against his son Anti- 
pater. On hearing this his spirits revived; but he speedily 
relapsed, and attempted self-destruction. Although he was 
withheld from the execution of his purpose, the Customary cry 
was raised throughout the palace, as if he were really dead. 
These lamentations reached the ears of Antipater, and he forth- 
with attempted to bribe his guard, by a large sum of money, 
to suffer him to escape from his prison. But he was so uni- 
versally hated, that the guard made his offers known, and his 
father ordered his instant execution. Herod then made a new 
will, appointing his son Archelaus his successor in the kingdom 
of Judea ; Herod Antipas, tetrarch of Galilee and Perea ; and 
Philip, tetrarch of JBatanea, Gaulonitis, Trachonitis, and Paneas. 
This was the arrangement which Joseph found subsisting on 
his return to Judea, — so different from that which had been 
understood when he departed ; for under the previous will 
Herod, having been then rendered suspicious of his two elder sons, 
Archelaus and Philip, through the slanders of Antipater, had 
bequeathed the kingdom of Judea to his youngest son Antipas. 

Herod yielded up his blood-stained life — in the thirty- 
seventh year of his reign, and the seventieth of his age — five 
days after the execution of Antipater. It was shortly before 
the Passover, which is a note of time for the season of the 
year in which the holy family returned to the land of Israel. 

Salome was a sister worthy of Herod ; and would probably 
have felt little compunction in executing the fatal orders he 
had left her. But she feared the vengeance of the people; 
and therefore she dismissed the noblemen confined in the hip- 
podrome, as if by Herod's orders, before his death was publicly 
announced. 



THIETY-FIRST WEEK— THURSDAY. 

ARCHELAUS. MATTHEW II. 22, 23. 

When the holy family was on its journey, and drew near 
to Judea, Joseph was alarmed by the information that " Arch- 



ARCHELAUS. 149 

elaus did reign in the room of his father Herod," and " he was 
afraid to go thither." 

The term used in the first clause implies, in the original, 
that Archelaus was king, or reigned in kingly power. And it 
is objected, that this is not exactly correct, — for that Archelaus 
never was king. The case is this : As soon as his father was 
dead, Archelaus delivered to the soldiers a letter from the 
deceased king, in which he thanked them for their fidelity and 
services, and requested them to continue faithful to his son 
Archelaus, who was to be his successor. Herod's will was at 
the same time publicly read, and Archelaus was hailed as king. 
This is surely sufficient authority for the statement. And 
although, in fact, Archelaus abstained from formally assuming 
the regal title, as it was necessary that the will of his father 
should be first confirmed by Augustus, and although eventually 
he only obtained from Rome the inferior title of ethnarch, — 
yet it appears from Josephus, that his own subjects did not 
trouble themselves with these reserves and limitations, but 
continued to style him " king" from the time they hailed him 
by that title. 

But why should Joseph be afraid to remain in Judea 
because Archelaus did reign? There was ample cause for 
apprehension of the surviving sons of Herod. This one had 
the reputation of being the most unscrupulous and relentless ; 
and how well he deserved that character, a few days sufficed 
to show. His reign, indeed, like most other reigns, began with 
fair promises and golden hopes. On the eighth day after the 
mourning for Herod, Archelaus gave a feast to the people, 
and, seated on a golden throne in the temple, he promised 
them an administration more mild and equitable than that of 
his father. He, however, deferred the consideration of the 
various petitions that were presented to him till his authority 
should be confirmed by the Roman emperor. The people 
were, for the most part, willing to wait ; but at the instigation 
of the Pharisees, they demanded the immediate deposition of 
the unpopular high-priest Joazar, as well as the punishment 
of the evil counsellors who had advised Herod to put to death 



150 THIRTY-FIRST WEEK THURSDAY. 

the persons who had torn down the golden eagle which the 
king had set up over the eastern gate of the temple. Arche- 
laus excused himself from compliance with either request, on 
the ground that he could not well take any public measures 
until he had been confirmed on the throne by Augustus. 
This was far from satisfying the people ; and the tumult went 
on increasing, especially as the Jews who had come to Jeru- 
salem to celebrate the Passover took part with the disaffected. 
At length the soldiers stationed in the temple were treated 
with some insult, on hearing which Archelaus ordered the 
whole body of the royal guard to march into the temple, 
where they massacred about three thousand of the Jews there 
assembled, and dispersed the remainder. 

Now, it will be recollected that the death of Herod took 
place just before the Passover ; and Joseph being then com- 
manded to return from Egypt, must, according to all reasonable 
probability, have reached the borders of Judea, just after the 
perpetration of this sanguinary act, which, we learn incidentally, 
was at the Passover, just previous to which Herod died. The 
news of it, therefore, must have met him on his approach, 
together with the intelligence that Archelaus did reign. Every 
one he met could talk of nothing else — every mouth was full 
of it ; and dreadful as the fact was, it doubtless reached his 
ears with a thousand circumstances of aggravation. This, with 
the general character of the prince, may well have made 
Joseph doubt that he could safely execute his design of re- 
maining in Judea ; for there, every thing combined to render 
it probable that Archelaus would by no means hesitate to 
execute the purpose of his father, should it come to his know- 
ledge, or should he even suspect, that the child was still alive 
whom Herod supposed he had destroyed. 

Joseph's doubts as to the right course to be taken under 
these circumstances were ended by the Divine intimation, that 
he should proceed into Galilee ; in consequence of which he 
naturally repaired to the town in which he had formerly 
resided, and where he had friends and connections. This waa 
Nazareth. 



ARCHELAUS. 151 

Galilee was obviously, under the circumstances , the best 
and safest place for the bringing up of the child Jesus. Herod 
Antipas, the tetrarch, though not a good man, was a person 
of mild disposition as compared with Archelaus, with whom ho 
was, moreover, on terms so hostile that there was not the least 
likelihood that he would, even if demanded, give up the infant 
Christ into his power, while his own position would render him 
less sensible to the apprehension of the infant Messiah, which 
the ruler of Judea might be expected to entertain. This 
Herod Antipas was, however, destined to take some part in the 
history which the Gospel records. He is, in fact, the " Herod" 
named throughout the gospels, except in Matthew's second 
chapter, where "Herod." designates his father. We shall 
hereafter meet with him as the persecutor of John the Baptist ; 
and as the prince to whom Pilate sent Jesus in custody, when 
he heard that our Lord belonged to " his jurisdiction." 

"We may not find a better opportunity of stating, that 
Archelaus reigned so tyrannically in Judea, that after two 
years the endurance of his people became utterly exhausted, 
and they lodged complaints against him at Rome, in conse- 
quence of which he was deposed, and banished to Vienne in 
Gaul, and his dominion was, as the people desired, made a 
province of Rome, the government of which was administered 
by Roman procurators. This was the political situation of 
Judea during the time of our Lord's ministry. But Galilee 
remained under the separate government of Herod Antipas for 
many long years, — not only nearly the whole period of our 
Lord's lite, but considerably after his death, even to the year 
42 a.d., when, being accused at Rome, by his nephew Herod- 
Agrippa, of a secret understanding with the Parthians, he was 
deposed and banished to Lyons in Gaul, and his tetrarchy, and 
all his property, given to his accuser, who is no other than the 
M Herod" of the twelfth chapter of Acts. 



152 THIRTY-FIRST WEEK — FRIDAY. 

THIRTY-FIRST WEEK— FRIDAY. 

THE INFANCY OF JESUS. LUKE II. 40. 

Thirty years of the life of Jesus on earth are all but a blank 
to us. 

After the circumstances to which our attention has been given, 
it is stated that " the child grew, a waxed strong in spirit, filled 
with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon Him." 

After this, the incident of the visit to Jerusalem, and the 
interview with the doctors in the temple, occurs when Jesus 
has reached twelve years of age. Then we are informed that 
" He went down with them, and came to Nazareth, and was 
subject unto them ;" and that " Jesus increased in stature, and 
in favor with God and man." And this is all we learn till He 
is thirty years old, and commences his public ministry. 

The information which the evangelists were not instructed 
to give, there were many who in the early ages of Christianity 
undertook to supply ; and it would need a larger disquisition 
than would be proper here, to render it intelligible how it hap 
pened that certain apocryphal gospels — or narratives framed 
entirely from the fancy — could not only be written by well- 
meaning men, who thought that they did God service, but 
that such narratives should have been received and credited by 
large bodies of Christians. The two general principles seem to 
have conspired in the construction of the narrative portions of 
these books. One was the desire to fill up gaps or remove 
imagined discrepancies in the canonical gospels, and thus make 
the story complete. The other was a wish to fulfil all the 
prophecies of the Old Testament by having ready a fact for 
every supposed prediction. The operation of these principles 
will best be shown by a few examples. 

The gospel history is fragmentary. "Whole passages in the 
life of Jesus are passed over in silence — for instance, not only 
his childhood and youth, as first mentioned, but the period be- 
tween his resurrection and ascension. But how did Jesus 



THE INFANCY OF JESUS. 153 

grow up? — what were his occupations and tastes? — how was 
He regarded at home by his parents and neighbors ? — did He 
laugh ? — did He play ? — did He mingle with the boys of his 
age ? — did He go to school ? — did He exhibit any extraordinary 
wisdom, any miraculous power? — did He work at a trade? 
These were, in some degree, natural questions. Curiosity also 
seized upon the recorded incidents of his biography, and de- 
manded further information. It wanted to know the private 
history of the immaculate birth ; what took place on the jour- 
ney to Egypt, and there ; whether Jesus was circumcised. It 
asked how his trial was conducted ; who were his judges ; and 
a thousand similar things ; not forgetting to claim the solution 
of all historical doubts and disagreements. Such questions in 
such an age could not fail of answers. Fancy is never slow to 
gratify inquisitiveness, and inquisitiveness will not be dainty if 
it only can be satisfied. It seems, accordingly, as if every pos- 
sible query respecting Christ was met in these apocryphal gos- 
pels with the most fearless confidence in the faith of the readers, 
and their incapacity for historical criticism. 

Let us give some examples : — 

The particulars of the flight into Egypt are related with the 
utmost minuteness of detail. Besides the docile trees, the 
spontaneous springs, and the marvellous cures, to which we 
have already alluded, wild beasts escort the holy family, and 
the robbers of the desert flee before them. But the way to 
Egypt is long. Perhaps it was difficult to invent miracles 
enough to beguile it. Jesus therefore shortens the distance, so 
that the journey of many days is accomplished in one — 
" straightway the mountains of Egypt came in sight." In a 
wilderness, as they are travelling, the pilgrims fall in with two 
robbers, who are afterwards crucified with Jesus ; their names 
Titus and Dumachus. The former bribes the latter to let the 
strangers pass unmolested, and Jesus predicts his blessed fate 
on the spot. In Egypt, the sick and leprous are cured, and 
the dead are raised, by application of the water in which his 
person or his clothing has been washed. As an infant, Jesus 
is a perfect man. He goes to school and confounds his teacher 

7* 



154 THIRTY-FIRST WEEK FRIDAY. 

He performs the most surprising miracles. He makes clay 
sparrows fly ; He carries water in his apron ; He stretches out 
a large throne that Joseph had made too short ; He transforms 
his companions into goats, and exhibits many other works ; all 
equally marvellous, not all humane, and some very cruel. He 
is described as the virtual head of the family. No one ven- 
tures to eat or drink, or to seat himself at the table, or to break 
bread, until Jesus had done it before him. If He was not 
hungry, the family dispensed with the meal. The subject of 
his discussion with the doctors is, as we shall see presently, re- 
ported in full. 

It need not be added that all these are pure fictions. But 
they were fictions designed for a purpose. Curiosity called 
for them, and credulity accepted them, although they were not 
at any time, except by the Gnostics, regarded as an indispu- 
table history, or as standing on the same level with the gospel 
verities. Indeed, considering the misapprehension of the spirit 
and work of Christ which these narratives indicate, and the 
gross puerilities which they embody, it is difficult to account 
for the degree of attention they received but by insisting upon 
the absence of the faculty of critical discrimination — which has 
in modern times been, perhaps, too sedulously cultivated — in 
the age in which these narratives were produced ; and by the 
evident suitability of this garbage to a taste which the simple 
truths of the gospel narrative could no longer satisfy. In fact, 
such matters are acceptable in all ages to minds in a certain 
state of culture, analogous to that which was then prevalent. 
If any proof of this were needed, it is found in the fact of 
which we are personally cognizant, that anecdotes, received 
orally, but derived originally from the apocryphal gospels some 
years ago, formed the most cherished lore of numbers in the 
uneducated, or partially educated classes, who took no small 
pride upon being wise above what is written, and of knowing 
something which the evangelists had not taught. It was 
6hown also in the veneration with which one of these apocry- 
phal documents, printed on a broad sheeet, was regarded by 
thousands ; being stuck up in the places of honor — over the 



THE INFANCY OF JESUS. 155 

bed's head or the centre of the mantel-piece — as something pe- 
culiarly sacred and salutary.* 

The Rev. Jeremiah Jones, in his work on the Canon of 
Scripture,f enters largely into the grounds on which these 
narratives should be regarded as apocryphal and spurious. 
First, he shows that they were not regarded as authentic by 
any of the ancient Christians Then the whole contexture of 
them is false, or contrary to certainly known truth. The de- 
sign is to relate a large series of miracles and wonderful actions 
wrought by our Saviour during his infancy, or before he en- 
tered upon his public ministry ; whereas it is certain, by the 
most incontestible evidence, that our Lord wrought no such 
miraculous actions, nor indeed any one miracle before he was 
about thirty years old. This we will presently show when Ave 
come to consider the miracle at Cana. Further, the multitude 
of idle and silly stories and trifling and ludicrous relations, 
which are contained in these " gospels," clearly evince their 
apocryphal and spurious character. Then, again, these writ- 
ings contain much that is false, and contrary to known truth. 
Thus the Virgin is reported to have given birth to our Saviour 
in a cave, before she reached Bethlehem. Joseph is described 
as leaving Egypt for fear of the Egyptians, whereas in fact he 
left because the ends of his going thither were accomplished. 
Joseph is employed in making a throne for " the king of Jeru- 
salem," when there was no king reigning there — Archelaus 

* This comprised the alleged Epistle of Abgarus, king of Edessa, to 
Christ, and the reply of our Lord thereto. It was from the latter, as 
the only writing of Jesus, that the document derived the special 
sanctity ascribed to it. To this was usually added the Letter of Len- 
tullus, giving a description of the person of Christ. We believe these 
sheets have now generally disappeared, the distributors of the Reli- 
gious Tract Society having made it an object to substitute its useful 
broad-sheets ; an object not always achieved without great difficulty 
and a large expenditure of remonstrance and earnest persuasion. 

\ "A New and Full Method of Settling the Canonical Authority of 
the New Testament? Oxford, 1827. See also an article in No. 17*2 
of the [American] Christian Examiner, being a review of Das Leben 
Jcsu nach den Apocryphen of Dr. Hofmann. 



156 THIRTY-FIRST WEEK SATURDAY. 

having been deposed, and Judea made a Roman provmce. It 
is notoriously false in these writings that they make Jesus to 
have been morose and revengeful — striking men dead upon 
the slightest provocation, or for none at all. Thus He kills a 
Jew who reproached him for breaking the Sabbath ; He kills 
a boy who in haste happened to run against Him in the street. 
He kills his master for being about to strike Him, because He 
could not say his lesson. It needs not be pointed out that 
these things are contrary to the design of Christ's miracles, 
which were all for the benefit of mankind ; contrary to his doc- 
trine, which was wholly against revenge, and inculcated the 
forgiveness of injuries. These gospels of the infancy also con- 
tain things later than the time at which they pretend to have 
been written ; such as the prodigious respect paid to the 
Virgin Mary, which was not known in the Church until the 
fourth and fifth centuries, and that care for the preservation of 
relics which can be proved to have been unknown to the 
primitive gospels. 

The result of the whole is to render us deeply thankful that 
God has given and preserved to us authentic and divinely-in- 
spired narratives, free from all taint of error or stain of man's 
devices ; which have stood the most excruciating processes of 
criticism, and on which every truth-seeking mind is able to 
rely with the most unwavering confidence. 



THIRTY-FIRST WEEK— SATURDAY. 

VISIT TO JERUSALEM. LUKE II. 41-50. 

The law of Moses required that the adult males of the 
Jewish nation should appear before the Lord at the place of 
his altar, three times every year, at the great festivals. An- 
ciently — that is, under the judges and the kings — this obliga- 
tion had been very much neglected. But in, and long before, 
the time of our Saviour, more attention had been given to 



VISIT TO JERUSALEM. 157 

these festivals, and the attendance at Jerusalem was very large. 
It was much the largest at the Passover, which was rightly re- 
garded as the most solemn and important of these festivals, 
and which involved certain observances which could only there 
be performed. In fact, there only could the passover lamb be 
eaten, seeing that it was necessary that the lambs should be 
first offered at the altar. The attendance at the other festivals 
was regarded as less obligatory, or more optional. There was 
no legal penalty indeed for the neglect even of the Passover ; 
but attendance at it was very essential to the character of a 
good Jew ; and no one could frequently or habitually neglect 
it without loss of credit. The fact seems to have been, that 
Jerusalem was visited during all the festivals only by those 
who lived comparatively near ; persons whose abode was more 
remote were generally content with one attendance in the year, 
and it was considered a mark of piety to be constant in that 
annual attendance. Jews in foreign countries, and they were 
at this time numerous, did not of course attend annually at 
any of the festivals ; but they strove to be present at no dis- 
tant intervals of years, — and then the festival at which their 
attendance was most common was not that of the Passover, 
but that of Pentecost, because the time of the year before and 
after that feast was most favorable for travel, and especially for 
voyaging by sea — a most serious consideration in the timid 
navigation of that age. Thus we see that it was at the feast 
of Pentecost next after the Passover, at which our Lord was 
crucified, that many strangers from all parts are recorded to 
have been at Jerusalem — (Acts ii. 1-5) — and Paul, coming 
from over the sea, hastened to be at Jerusalem against the 
feast of Pentecost. (Acts xx. 16.) 

Hence we feel no surprise that the Passover seems to have 
been the only one of the three feasts which the family at Na- 
zareth regularly attended. We are told : " Now his parents 
went to Jerusalem every year at the feast of the Passover." 
From this we learn, that Mary accompanied her husband on 
these occasions. The attendance of adult males only was re- 
quired by the law, and even custom did not exact the attend- 



158 THIRTY-FIRST WEEK SATURDAY. 

ance of females. This, therefore, was entirely a voluntary thing 
on the part of Mary, and evinces the piety of her character, 
and her great regard for, and delight in, the ordinances of God. 

The child Jesus first accompanied his parents when He was 
twelve years of age. This is usually stated to have been in 
conformity with regulations prescribing that age for the first 
attendance of males. But this was not required actually till 
the age of thirteen had been attained, when the child became 
subject to the whole law, and incurred all the duties of adult 
church-membership. That our Lord was taken a year sooner, 
was therefore a proof, that in the view of his parents He had at 
this earlier age manifested such knowledge of Divine things, 
and such acquaintance with the obligations of the Mosaic cove- 
nant, as demanded that they should no longer postpone his 
formal recognition as " a son of the commandment," as such a 
person used to be called. 

As it is said that " they fulfilled all the days," it would seem 
that they tarried through the seven days of the feast of un- 
leavened bread, which immediately followed the Passover, and 
was usually counted as part of it — making eight days in all. 
It was not obligatory to remain after the actual Passover, but 
devout persons usually did so. 

At length they departed with their company ; and although 
Joseph and Mary did not see their Son during the first day's 
journey, they felt no concern, presuming that He was accom- 
panying some of their neighbors in the large party of north- 
ward-bound travellers. 

This will appear plainer when it is understood, that as the 
pilgrims to the Passover required to be all at Jerusalem by the 
same time, those who dwelt in the same neighborhood neces- 
sarily left their homes together, and, by previous arrangement 
as to the time of starting, made up a large travelling company. 
The Orientals always like large parties in travelling, — and 
especialty when travelling for religious objects, as we see in the 
great pilgrim caravans of the Moslems and Hindus. Safety 
and sociality equally dictate this ; and no doubt it contributed 
largely to the maintenance of good feelings and friendly rela- 



VISIT TO JERUSALEM. 159 

tions among the people, that persons (even if residing in the 
same town), separated for the year by their various pursuits 
and occupations, found such opportunities of seeing each other, 
and conversing together, under the relaxations of happy travel, 
in a pleasant season, and with pious objects. Indeed, this 
cultivation of the feeling of brotherhood among the people, 
was avowedly one of the objects for which attendance at the 
place of the altar was required. And this object was quite as 
much promoted in the journey to and from Jerusalem as in 
the assemblage there. Perhaps more so, — as people actually 
travelling are thrown more miscellaneously together than in a 
town under any circumstances. 

The Nazarenes doubtless timed their departure from home 
so as to fall in with parties arriving so far on their way from 
places more to the north on the same line of road ; and in the 
southward journey were joined by parties from places lying 
nearer to Jerusalem on the same route. Quitting that city as 
soon as the festival was ended, the persons going the same 
journey would iu like manner leave together, but would throw 
off parties right and left as they proceeded on their way. 
Thus the stream of travellers increased as it approached, and 
diminished as it receded from Jerusalem, — -being in both cases 
largest when nearest the city.* Thus the northward company 
must have been very large indeed during the first day's journey 
from Jerusalem ; and the conclusion of the parents of Jesus, 
that their Son, although not at hand, might be with some 
acquaintance in the company, was perfectly natural. When, 
however, they halted at the end of that day's journey, and 
Jesus did not join them at the appointed spot, which He knew, 
as He had rested there with them in the way up, they became 
seriously alarmed. They went about seeking Him among the 
Nazarenes of their acquaintance, but could hear no tidings of 
Him. The company was to proceed in the morning, and it 
became necessary to decide either to go on with it, or to return 
to Jerusalem. They probably waited to see the caravan pass 

* See Ps. lxxxiv. 7, margin, — " They go from company to company ; 
every one of them in Zion appeareth before God." 



160 THIRTY-SECOND WEEK SUNDAY. 

out in the morning, in order to make sure that He was not in 
it ; and then feeling confident that He must have remained 
behind at Jerusalem, they hastened back with, anxious hearts 
to seek their lost Son. 



THE LORD ABSENT. LUKE II. 43. 

When Mary and Joseph had lost the holy child Jesus, 
they "sought Him sorrowing." They loved Him — they knew 
his value — their hearts were knit to Him — they could not 
know happiness without Him. Therefore they sought Him 
sorrowing ; fearing that they might have lost Him altogether, 
and that his presence might gladden their hearts no more. 

An easy application makes this illustrative of the condition 
of the soul which loses sight of Jesus in any part of this earthly 
pilgrimage. " dear Saviour I" cries one of old, " who can 
miss and not mourn for Thee ! Just is that sorrow, and those 
tears seasonable, that are bestowed upon thy loss. "What 
comfort are we capable of while we want Thee ! What relish 
is there in these earthly delights without Thee ! What is 
there to mitigate our passionate discomforts, if not from Thee ! 
Let thyself loose, O my soul, to the fulness of sorrow when 
thou findest thyself bereaved of him, in whose presence there 
is fulness of joy ; and deny to receive comfort from anything 
save from his return."* 

But why should the Lord's presence be at any time wanting 
to us ? — why should we be at any time exposed to the misery 
of his absence from us ? We know that it is so — but why 
should it be thus with us ? 

Often does it happen that after the most spiritual employ- 
ments, and the services we count most holy, God seems to 
absent himself from us, and to withdraw the sensible evidence 
* Bishop Hall's Contemplations, Book ii. Con. 1. 



THE LORD ABSENT. 161 

of his presence. "Kris seems hard ; yet our Lord is not a hard 
Master. He means our good ; and it is good that we should 
not be allowed to rest in fixed and stagnating contentments • 
but should be excited by the pain of his absence and by the 
fear of losing Him, to seek after Him with the same diligence, 
the same cares, the same fears, as those with which this sor- 
rowing mother sought her lost Jesus. God means it not, we 
may well believe, in anger, but in mercy, when for a while He 
removes the light from before the eyes of a holy person, that 
he may not fall into a condition of too great complacency in 
his spiritual condition and estates before God. Even in the 
things of the spirit, it is too much our tendency to look to the 
present, to rely too much upon present comforts and exaltations. 
We judge well or ill of our devotions and services by the 
measure of our own apprehensions and expectations ; and if 
we feel a present rejoicing of spirit, all is well with us, and the 
smoke of our sacrifice seems to have ascended right upward in 
a holy cloud to God. But if we fail to realize a present sense 
of comfort, then we count it ominous of spiritual loss and evil 
to us, and are led to look narrowly into our own hearts; 
which is of itself a good and salutary exercise ; and we seldom 
need to look much further for the real cause of our discomfort. 
It is not always in anger that these seasons of gloom are 
suffered to fall upon us. When the guiding pillar of fire 
withdrew from the front of the Hebrew host, doubtless the 
chosen people were perplexed, as they looked into the dark 
wilderness of waters that lay before them. But presently 
they found that, although no longer before but behind them, 
it there became a sign of safety to them and of ruin to their 
enemies. So it is that if the bright irradiations from the 
Lord's presence, that are wont to guide and cheer our pilgrim 
way, do sometimes remove from our sight, and stand behind 
us, this is no sure ground of fear that his anger has gone forth 
against us ; for such failures of sensible enjoyment, such cloud- 
ings of spirit, are well suited to keep us in humbleness of 
mind, and to restrain those vain and intemperate thoughts to 
which we are often tempted in the days of our gladness. 



162 THIRTY-SECOND WEEK SUNDAY. 

But let us not too readily take comfort from the thought 
that the withdrawment of our Lord's presence is not always a 
sign of his displeasure ; for it is often that. Too often do we 
give Him cause, by our offences and alienations, to hide for a 
while his face from us. Sometimes we are puffed up with 
vain conceits ; sometimes we have been remiss in our waiting 
upon Him and looking to Him ; sometimes pride invades the 
dark corners of our heart ; sometimes we cherish, some secret 
sin, or nourish some unholy thought, concerning which He 
would have us diligently examine ourselves. Then it is, that 
when by our ceasing to enjoy his presence with our spirits, we 
have been led to look narrowly into our own souls, and have 
been brought, by what we rind there, into a proper state of 
self-abasement, a ray of light breaks through the dusk which 
has hung around us, and we know once more that He is there. 

It is well remarked by a master in Israel, whose suggestions 
we have here been mainly following,* that " although the visi- 
ble remonstrance and face of things in all the absences and 
withdrawings of Jesus be the same, yet, if sin be the cause of 
it, the withdrawing is a taking away of his favor ; but if God 
does it to secure thy piety and inflame thy desires, or to pre- 
vent a crime, then He withdraws a gift only, nothing of his 
love ; and yet the darkness of the spirit and sadness seem equal." 

The sincere soul that misses the presence of Christ, can 
know no joy without Him ; can find interest in no employ- 
ment but in seeking Him ; can take no rest till it has found 
Him. Blessed they who know how to seek Him, and where to 
find Him ; for this knowledge spares them much hazardous 
and fruitless quest. The church, in the Song of Songs (iii. 2) 
resolves, " I will rise and go about the city, and will seek Him 
whom my soul loveth." That was an ill place to seek Him ; 
and she is constrained to confess — " I sought Him, but I found 
Him not." 

" I searched this glorious city ; He's not here ; 

I sought the country ; she stands empty handed. 

* Jeremy Tatlou. Great Exemplar, Part i. Sect. 3. Edit. 1653. 



JESUS WITH THE DOCTORS. 163 

I searched the court ; He is a stranger there ; 

I asked the land ; He's shipp'd : the sea ; He's landed. 
I moved the merchant's ear ; alas ! but he 

Knew neither what I said, nor what to say 
I asked the lawyer he demands a fee, 

And then devours me with a vain delay : 
I asked the schoolman ; his advice was free, 

But scored me out too intricate a way : 

I asked the watchman (best of all the four), 
"Whose gentle answer could resolve no more, 

But that he lately left Him at the temple door. 

Thus having sought, and made my great inquest 

In every place, and seareh'd in every ear ; 

I threw me on my bed ; but, oh ! my rest 

"Was poisoned with th' extremes of grief and fear, 
Where, looking down into my troubled breast, 

The magazine of wounds, I found Him there."— Quaeles. 



THIRTY-SECOND WEEK— MONDAY. 

JESUS WITH THE DOCTORS. LUKE II. 46. 

The alarmed parents soon found their Son. It is said to 
have been " after three days," meaning three days from the 
first departure from Jerusalem ; and as one day was spent in 
going out, and another in coming back, this implies that they 
found Him on the day after their return. 

And where found they Him ? — In the temple ; and, doubt- 
less, that they sought Him there, was the reason that they 
found Him so soon. It is very probable that Jesus had evinced 
so much delight in visiting the temple during his residence with 
them in the city, that this was almost the first place where 
they sought Him. When they came back the previous even- 
ing, they would naturally repair to the place where they had 
lodged, not only for a night's rest, but as the most likely place 
where they could hear of their Son ; and it may be thought 
that the people there had informed them of his movements. 
But this was not the case— for it would appear that He had 



164 THIRTY-SECOND WEEK MONDAY. 

not returned to this place to his meals, or to sleep, for in that 
case they would have found Him the previous evening when 
He came there. 

They found Him " in the temple," — that is, not in the tem- 
ple itself, to which none but the priests were admitted, — nor in 
the court of the priests, for He was not among the priests, but 
among the doctors, — that is, the teachers of the law ; and, 
therefore, in the arcades, or rather in some of the chambers or 
halls connected with the temple. There were many doctors — 
who taught in the colleges or schools of the city ; and there 
were three learned bodies authorized to sit within the enclosure 
of the temple itself. These were the great Sanhedrim, the 
lesser Sanhedrim, and the bench of three members, which 
respectively sat in the chamber called Gazith, at the gate of 
the court of Israel, and at the gate of the court of the Gentiles. 
It is difficult to determine in which of these assemblies our 
Lord was discovered, or whether it may not have been in the 
synagogue — for there was one within the temple-enclosure, 
where, after service, one might be admitted to conversation 
with the learned doctors connected with it. It was, however, 
certainly in one or the other of these assemblies that Joseph 
and Mary found their lost Son, " sitting in the midst of the 
doctors, both hearing them and asking them questions ; and 
all that heard Him were astonished at his understanding and 
answers." 

It may be observed, that it was the custom for the doctors 
of the law to be seated on chairs or benches, while the scholars 
sat on the ground before them. Hence the scholar was said 
to sit at the feet of his master, as Paul of Gamaliel. The San- 
hedrim, however, which, when full, comprised no less than 
seventy persons, sat in a semi-circle upon a bench, and the 
students, arranged according to their proficiency, sat on three 
benches or forms one behind another, in front of this arc ; and 
behind these benches stood the common or occasional auditors. 
We must suppose that it was in one of these senses that Jesus 
" sat among the doctors ;" unless it happened that, struck by 
the profundity of his remarks and his engaging presence, they 



JESUS WITH THE DOCTORS. 165 

invited Him near, and gave Him a place among themselves, 
that they might hear and observe Him better. In that ease, 
however, Joseph and Mary would scarcely have been able to 
approach Him, to converse with Him in an under-tone, as they 
did. 

As to the questioning, great liberty was allowed to auditors 
and students in this respect, — the system of instruction being, 
to a great extent, interrogative, and students being encouraged 
to propose their doubts and difficulties, and to put any ques- 
tions which the thirst of knowledge suggested, to those sup- 
posed to be able, from their position and attainments, to afford 
an authoritative solution. The questions of the young Jesus, 
founded upon what He heard from the doctors, were so acute 
and profound, that these learned persons were greatly amazed ; 
and in their turn, and in order to test the actual depth of his 
knowledge, they put deep questions to Him. This was an 
unusual course, and as such shows how strongly the learned 
and venerable persons composing the assembly were impressed 
and interested by this extraordinary child. His answers to the 
designedly trying questions proposed by the doctors, afforded 
them new matter for astonishment. It is, however, surely a 
grievous misrepresentation of this striking scene to call it, and 
indeed to represent it as the painters do, as " Christ disputing 
with the doctors." This must have been founded on the idea 
of his juvenile character, exhibited in the gospels of the In- 
fancy, and is not warranted by anything offered in the sacred 
text itself. It is little likely of Him that, forgetful of his tender 
years, He engaged in eager disputation with the sages of the 
land ; but we rather suppose Him, in a quiet and becoming 
manner, putting questions tending to direct their attention to 
the inner spirit of the Law and the Prophets ; and in the 
same manner, and to the same end, answering the searching 
questions put to himself. We cannot doubt that all had special 
reference to the Messiah, and to the real nature of his kingdom 
and his work ; and that much of the amazement of the doctors 
was excited by views so much at variance with those commonly 
entertained. 



166 THIRTY-SECOND WEEK TUESDAY. 

The admiration which this wondrous child excited might 
have led to farther, and probably inconvenient inquiries after 
Him, had not the appearance at this juncture of persons of 
such obviously humble condition of life as Joseph and Mary, 
claiming to be his parents, abated somewhat of their consider- 
ation for Him, and helped to cast a veil over the eyes of such 
indolent seekers after truth as they were. The holy child Jesus 
had, however, left his testimony among them. 

Joseph and Mary must have been greatly astonished at what 
they beheld ; and at least Mary could not but obtain some in- 
crease of that mysterious reverence with which she regarded 
her God-born son. We doubt not that Jesus, when he per- 
ceived them, arose dutifully out of his place, and came to them, 
taking the occasion of withdrawing himself from that admiring 
assembly. When they were together, the mother of Jesus 
asked Him gently, not as rebuking Him, but as seeking a 
reason for His proceedings, why he had remained behind, inform- 
ing Him that she and his father had been seeking Him with 
great trouble of mind. Our Lord's reply intimated that they 
needed not to be thus solicitious on his account ; for they should 
have surmised the occasion of his tarrying behind, and the time 
must come when the business of his real Father must engage 
him wholly. They understood Him not well, or only caught 
glimpses of his meaning. But Mary, as was her custom, laid 
up these words of her Divine Son in her heart of hearts, which 
had become a treasury wherein his sayings and doings were 
most carefully preserved and pondered over. 



THIRTY-SECOND WEEK— TUESDAY. 

JOHN THE BAPTIST. MATT. III. 4 ; LUKE I. 80. 

The course of the evangelical history now recalls our at- 
tention to John, the son of the aged pair, Zacharias and Elisa- 
beth. 

Of his early youth we know still less than of that of Jesus. 



JOHN THE BAPTIST. 167 

The only passage referring to it is Luke i. 80 — " the child 
waxed strong in spirit," and it is added, that " he was in the 
deserts until the day of his showing unto Israel." We do not 
infer from this, as is done by many, that he had spent all his 
time from childhood to thirty years of age in the desert, — the 
ordinary course of Jewish education and training being with 
respect to him neglected, and that it was there " the child 
waxed strong in spirit," upon the sweet nourishment of his own 
solitary thoughts, and under the special influences of the Divine 
Spirit — which was more to him then the instructions of all 
teachers. This is pleasant, but not likely to have been true. 
We never hear of children, or even mere youths, withdrawing 
into the solitude of deserts for spiritual contemplation. It is 
the act of a man who had already as a child waxed strong in 
spirit. It is to be remembered that John was born a priest — 
that is, one of the most learned and highly- educated body in 
the country. All Jews had what would now be called a good 
common education — that is to say, they could read, write, and 
cypher ; and were besides instructed in the sacred history, which 
was the history of their nation, in the requirements of the law, 
and in their obligations and privileges as members of the chosen 
race. But the priesthood received what was intended for and 
was considered a high education. This consisted in a deeper 
knowledge of all these things, in an acquaintance with Bibli- 
cal Hebrew — which had long ceased to be the spoken language 
of the people — and in an acquaintance with the regulations 
and special views which had in the course of time been authori- 
tatively deduced from, or founded upon, the Law as delivered 
by Moses, and which, taken together, formed a Judaism mate- 
rially different, both in external and internal relations, from 
that which prevailed in the early Biblical ages. 

Such an education and training as belonged to his order, 
Zacharias was not likely to withhold from his son — least of all 
from a son of which high expectations were entertained. And 
that John should refuse such an education, and while still, from 
his tender years, subject to the authority of his father, should 
withdraw from paternal control and the obligations of his 



168 THIRTY-SECOND WEEK — TUESDAY 

station into the wilderness, would have appeared to his people a 
very unseemly commencement of a great and useful career — 
would have been adverse to all the notions of filial duty pre- 
valent in that age and country — and, more than all, would 
have been very different from the conduct of our Saviour, who 
—although One whose sandals John declared himself not worthy 
to bear — deemed that it became Him to remain at Nazareth in 
subjection to his parents, up to an adult age. Indeed the 
humble mindedness in John, which the declaration just quoted 
indicates, little agrees with the supposition on which many have 
proceeded, that the "man sent from God" assumed the direction 
of his own course of life, and withdrew himself from the pater- 
nal control while yet in his nonage. 

The priests entered upon the exercise of their functions at 
the age of thirty ; and we know that it was about that age that 
John received his formal commission from Heaven as a prophet. 
This commission probably superseded the obligations which his 
priestly station would at that age have imposed ; and it may 
be doubted if he ever exercised the priestly functions. If he 
did, these were, owing to the great number of the priests, so 
easy, that the duties involved could interfere but little with 
those which his prophetic call imposed. We assume, therefore, 
that it was in immediate view of the age when he should take 
his place among the officiating priesthood, and with an ulterior 
view to his being called upon to assume the special offices as- 
signed to him before his birth, that John withdrew into the 
wilderness — perhaps some two or three years before he attained 
the age of thirty. As his parents were aged persons at the 
time of his birth, they must have been very old before he reach- 
ed that time of life. The probability is, that they were both 
dead some years before ; and it is supposable, that the de- 
mise of the survivor of them, by divesting him of earthly ties 
(for he had no brothers or sisters), and by breaking up his 
home, supplied the occasion for his withdrawal into the desert. 
This was a course not at all extraordinary in that age. For 
we learn from Josephus, that many pious and earnest men 
among the Jews, disgusted with the corruptions of the times, 



JOHN THE BAPTIST. 169 

retired into wilderness spots, and there became teachers of re- 
ligion, gathering disciples arround them. This writer speaks, 
in the account he gives of himself, of one of these persons, 
named Banus, whose disciple he became. He says : " Not 
satisfied, however, with the knowledge thus acquired, on hear- 
ing of one named Banus, who spent his life in the dessrt, wear- 
ing such clothing as might be had from trees, eating the food 
which the ground spontaneously supplied, and using frequent 
ablutions of cold water, by day and night, for the purposes of 
purification, I took him as my exemplar ; and having continued 
with him three years, and attained my object, I returned to the 
city."* 

The wilderness to which John retired was doubtless that 
wild, mountainous region lyiag east towards the Dead Sea. 
This was well suited for his purpose ; for besides that, there 
was nothing in its natural character, or the state of the lakt, 
beyond, to attract the resort of men ; it lay out of the lines of 
communication between place and place, so that the roads of 
traffickers and wayfaring men passed not through it. Here 
he lived much as Banus did, except that his existence was 
more solitary, as he had not yet assumed the functions of a 
public teacher, and there was no resort of disciples to him. 
He was clad in a dress which would wear well, and required 
no care, such as Elijah, and other ancient prophets, wore — not 
as distinctive of their profession (for John had not yet been 
called to be a prophet), but as the dress of poor men — the 
dress best suited to their condition. It is a dress which may 
still be seen every day in the Syro- Arabian countries — a rough, 
but stout and serviceable, robe of camel's hair, or of camel's 
hair and wool combined, bound about the waist by a broad 
girdle of stiff leather. His food was " locusts, and wild honey" 
from the rocks, aided doubtless by the wild products of the 
soil. Some question has been raised concerning the " locusts." 
There is a wild shrub, called by the natives the Carol tree, 
and by botanists Ceratonia siliqua, affording a pod containing 
bean-like seeds. It is often mentioned in the Talmud as the 
* Life, ii. 2 : compare Antiq* xviii. v. 2. 

vol. in. 8 



170 THIRTY-SECOND WEEK TUESDAY. 

food of cattle and swine ; and it is now used for feeding horses, 
asses, and mules ; and it is stated that, during the Peninsular 
war, the horses of the British cavalry were often fed on the 
beans of the carob tree. There is a tradition in the Levant 
that this formed the food of John, as well as the " husks" that 
the proaigal son would fain have eaten. Hence it is often 




called "St John's bread" and "The Locust Tree." There 
seems no reason for this notion, which probably originated in 
some European dislike to the idea of the Baptist feeding on 
such scurvy vermin as the insect locusts. This is, however, our 
opinion, warranted as it is by the text, and corroborated by 
having witnessed the extent to which locusts are used for food 
in the East. The devourers are devoured, and that somewhat 
greedily, so that they furnish with their own bodies some com- 
pensation — though certainly a very inadequate one — for the 
destruction of man's food which they occasion. The pastoral 
tribes, as well as the poorer inhabitants of towns and villages, 
collect them in great quantities, not only for their own eating, 



THE MINISTRY OF JOHN. l7l 

but for sale in the bazaars. They may be so prepared as to 
keep good for a considerable time. The most common pro- 
cess is to cast them alive into a pot of boiling water, into which 
some salt has been thrown. After boiling a few minutes, they 
are taken out, and the heads, wings, and feet being plucked 
off, the trunks are dried in the sun, and then stored away in 
casks. They are usually sold in this condition, and are either 
eaten without farther preparation, or are boiled, stewed, or 
fried in butter. They are commonly mixed with butter (which 
is always laid on very thickly in the East), and so spread out 
upon bread, and thus eaten, particularly at breakfast. Euro* 
peans in the East do not generally like the idea of eating 
locusts, though they can at home relish shrimps and prawns, 
which should be really not less revolting ; and to which, in- 
deed, after being boiled as described, in salted water, the locust 
bears considerable resemblance as an article of food — at least 
more resemblance than to anything used for food among our- 
selves. 

The explanation here given obviates the objection derivable 
from the fact, that locusts are only procurable at one time of 
the year, when they make their migrations. This is equally 
true of any article of vegetable food, and even of honey, un- 
less it be kept, — and these locusts, as we have seen, can be 
preserved 



THIRTY-SECOND WEEK.— WEDNESDAY. 

THE MINISTRY OF JOHN. MATT. III. 1-1 2 J MARK I. 1-3 ; LUKE 

III. 1-1 Y. 

At length the time arrived when the Word of God came to 
John in the solitudes of the wilderness, where he had, no doubt, 
long brooded over the iniquities of the times, over the prospect 
of the Messiah's kingdom, and over the precise nature of that 
mission to which he knew that he had been nominated, though 
not yet called to its actual duties. That " Word" made clear 



172 THIRTY-SECOND WEEK WEDNESDAY 

to him all that he needed to know. It not only taught him 
what to do, and that the time was come for him to do it; but 
it inspired him with all the energies and powers needed for the 
fit discharge of the high and solemn office to which he was called. 

John now no longer shunned the haunts of men, but moved 
towards the inhabited districts of, or bordening on, the wilder 
ness towards Hebron, and lifted up his voice to " preaching 
the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins." This 
region was, however, but ill suited for the administration of the 
rite from which he derived his name of Baptist, or rather Bap- 
tiser, to large numbers of people. There were here but a few 
scanty streams, dried up in summer. The nearest large body 
of water was the Dead Sea. But, besides that the borders of 
this lake were mostly rugged and precipitous, — the natural 
feeling, and still more the religious awe of the people, would 
have shrunk from the idea of performing sacred ablutions in 
these pungent, saline, unwholesome, and accursed waters. John 
therefore moved northward, proclaiming his mission, and draw- 
ing crowds after him as he went. At length he reached the 
great national river, which, not only as the sole important 
stream in the land, but as the scene of the Lord's mighty acts 
of old, was in all respects suitable for the purpose the Baptiser 
had in view. He here took his station, most usually at Beth- 
abara, the ford of the Jordan which tradition pointed out not 
only as the spot where the waters divided to let the hosts of 
Israel pass, but as the point where the waters parted when 
smitten by the mantle of his great prototype Elijah. Here, 
though the adjacent country is wild and desert, the immediate 
shores of the river afford many objects of picturesque beauty, 
in the midst of which John addressed the listening multitudes 
who resorted to him, or performed upon them the rite with 
which he crowned his instructions. 

There has been much discussion whether this rite was then 
new to the people as introduced by John, or that their minds 
were already familiar with it, and apprehensive of its general 
purport from some previous practice. It is said that there was 
an initiatory purification by baptism of those Gentile converts 



THE MINISTRY OF JOHN. 173 

who were not yet thought worthy of circumcision, or perhaps 
declined to submit to it ; and the question is, whether this rite 
as an initiation, and to the existence of which there are many 
allusions in the early rabbinical writings, was ever before this 
time in use, or was of later introduction. There is no distinct 
evidence of its higher antiquity ; but against its later introduc- 
tion there is this negative argument, that Jews could not at a 
later period have been likely to introduce a rite that might 
seem to be borrowed from the Christians. The question, either 
way, does not seem to be of much consequence. For while 
we carefully distinguish between baptism as a rite of initiation, 
used once for all, and the repeated ablutions for ceremonial 
purification, it cannot be questioned that the perpetual simili- 
tude and connection between the cleanness of the body and the 
soul, which ran through the Mosaic law, and had become 
completely interwoven with the common language and senti- 
ment, together with the formal enactment of ablution in many 
cases, which either required the cleansing of some unhealthy 
taint, or more than usual purity, must have familiarized the 
minds of the Jewish people with the ideas on which the higher 
and more solemn baptismal rite is founded, whether this, or 
something of the kind, had or had not been previously known 
to them as a distinct and formal observance. The absence of 
any surprise on the part of the people, or of any charge of 
innovation against John in respect of his baptism, does not, 
therefore, as some have urged, prove that the rite was already 
in use among them. 

The news of John's appearing, his preaching, and his bap- 
tism, spread quickly through the land, and from every quarter 
people of all ranks and sects hurried to the Jordan, and 
thronged with deep interest and high-wrought curiosity around 
him, gathering up with eagerness the strong words that fell 
from one who spoke with all the boldness and authority of a 
man who felt himself invested with a Divine commission, and 
who seemed, if he were not hereafter to break forth into a 
higher character, to renew in his person the interrupted race 
of the ancient prophets, silent for more than four iiundred 



1 74 THIRTY-SECOND WEEK — WEDNESDAY. 

years ; and whose very appearance reminded them of the rude 
garb and mortified demeanor of Elijah and other seers of old. 

He proclaimed loudly to them that " the kingdom of hea- 
ven" was at hand — the long-expected Messiah would speedily 
appear ; and he exhorted them to prepare their souls for his 
coming; assuring them that God would thoroughly sift his 
people, and that the unworthy would have no part in the 
kingdom about to be established. He denounced as false and 
ruinous the prevalent opinion, that descent from Abraham and 
the observance of outward ceremonies, were the only requisites 
for admission to the rights and honors of that kingdom, and 
exhorted men of all classes and characters to true repentance 
as the one essential preparation ; and as one appointed to make 
ready a people prepared for the Lord, he employed baptism 
as a symbol of preparatory consecration to the Messiah's king- 
dom. But when those (the Pharisees) who, in their self-right- 
eousness acknowledged no need of repentance, came to him for 
simple baptism, he repelled them with stern indignation and 
reproof, until they also should repent, and evince their repent- 
ance by their conduct. And to rebuke their reliance upon 
their Abrahamic descent as the one essential qualification, he 
gave them the strange and startling intimation that the benefits 
of the Messiah's reign were not necessarily limited to the chosen 
race, for that God was able from the very stones upon the 
river's bank, to raise up children unto Abraham. By this, he 
clearly meant to tell them, that if the Jews disgraced their high 
descent, God would remove his kingdom from them, and im- 
part it unto strangers — a doctrine of all others the most exas- 
perating to the class of people he then addressed. But the 
true penitents who came to John found in him a kind and 
condescending teacher. He gave them no vague and high- 
sounding words, but adapted his instructions with minute care 
to their special conditions and circumstances. On the people 
he inculcated mutual charity ; on the publicans (tax-gatherers) 
■ — whom, odious as they were, he did not exclude from his 
followers, justice ; on the soldiers of Herod Antipas — who were 
then passing that way on an expedition against the Arabian 



THE BAPTISM OF JESUS. 1^5 

King Aretas — humanity, and abstinence from all unnecessary 
violence and pillage. 

These requirements of John appear very moderate in com- 
parison with those of Christ, who demanded at the very outset 
an absolute surrender of the will and the affections. This 
difference, as Neander well remarks, arose naturally from the 
different positions which they occupied. John was fully con- 
scious that the moral regeneration which was indispensable to 
admittance into the Messiah's kingdom, could only be accom- 
plished by a Divine principle of life, and knowing that to 
impart this was beyond his power, he confined himself to a 
preparatory purification of the morals of the people. Tho- 
roughly understanding his true position and the nature of his 
office, he felt that he was, as the humble instrument of the 
Divine Spirit, called not to found the new creation, but to 
proclaim it. Although there had been no greater prophet — 
no greater man born of woman — he is never for an instant 
exalted above measure into a forge tfulness of his really subor- 
dinate and comparatively humble office. Convinced that he 
was inspired of God to prepare, and not to create, he never 
pretended to work miracles, nor did his disciples, strongly as 
he impressed them, ever attribute miraculous powers to him. 



THIRTY-SECOND WEEK— THURSDAY. 

THE BAPTISM OF JESUS. 

matt. in. 13-17 ; mark i. 9-11 ; LUKE III. 21, 22. 

John had probably been engaged in his ministry about 
six months* when Jesus took his departure from Galilee, and 
repaired to the Jordan to be baptised of him. To our first 
inconsiderate conceptions, this seems certainly a strange step ; 

* Jesus " began to be about thirty years of age" when he com- 
menced his ministry, and as John was six months older, the interval 
is six months, if, as is likely, John also begun to be about thirty years 
of age when his ministry commenced. 



176 THIRTY-SECOND WEEK THURSDAY. 

and we should suppose that, of all who lived in Israel, Jesns 
was the only one who did not need to be baptised of John. 
He was of the same opinion, for he repelled Him, exclaiming, 
" I have need to be baptised of Thee, and comest thou to me 2" 
This, however, raises the question, What did John then know 
of Jesus ? — since he afterwards declared that he " knew Him 
not," until he had received the appointed sign, which, as we 
know, was given after the baptism. It is clear, however, that 
he must have known something of Jesus, although He then 
appeared before him as an obscure and undistinguished youth 
of whom the world knew nothing. The old legends, followed 
by the painters in their pictures, intimate that Jesus and John 
were companions and associates in early life. Considering the 
distance at which they lived, this was altogether unlikely ; but 
after they had become old enough to accompany their parents 
to Jerusalem at the feasts, it cannot but be supposed that they 
met each other there, and formed that degree of acquaintance 
which these periodical meetings, together with their relation- 
ship, were calculated to produce. Besides, they and their 
respective parents thus meeting together, it is simply incredible 
but that John must have been apprised of the circumstances 
attending the birth of Jesus. Still John knew from the terms 
of his commission, that the Messiah was to be specially desig- 
nated to him by a remarkable sign, and, till He was thus made 
known to him officially, his private knowledge or suspicions 
went for nothing in his view, and gave him no authority in his 
public capacity to acknowledge Him as the Messiah. Still, he 
could not ignore the knowledge he actually possessed, and it 
could not but influence his conduct, and hence the language 
which this most unexpected application suddenly drew from 
him. Or it may be, as Neander conjectures, that these words 
were uttered not at the first application, but from convictions 
awakened at a later stage in the progress of the circumstances. 
"The Saviour prayed" at_the baptism — (Luke iii. 21). If we 
figure to ourselves his countenance, full of holy devotion and 
heavenly repose, as he stood in prayer, and its sudden associ- 
ation in the mind of the Baptist with all his recollections of 



THE BAPTISM OF JESUS. 177 

the early history of Jesus, we cannot wonder that the humble 
man of God should have been overwhelmed in that hour so 
pregnant with mighty interests, with a sense of his comparative 
unworthiness, and cried — " I have need to be baptised of Thee, 
and comest Thou to me ?" 

The answer of Jesus, " Suffer it to be so now, for thus it 
becometh us to fulfil all righteousness;" was necessary to 
convey to John the assurance that this was altogether fit and 
proper — fit that He should receive baptism from John, and fit 
that John should baptise Him. Satisfied with this assurance, 
John withdrew his opposition, and going down into the water, 
Jesus received baptism at his hands. 

Still it remains to ask, in what sense Jesus could properly 
receive baptism from John. The idea that He submitted 
himself to this rite with a view to purification, however the 
notion of purification be modified to meet the case, is altogether 
untenable, and even revolting. That the idea of purification 
was to some extent involved in John's baptism of others, may 
be admitted ; but even to them the leading and fundamental 
idea was that of preparation and consecration, first in its appli- 
cation to the members of the Messianic kingdom, announced 
as being at hand, and, secondly, to its Founder and Sovereign. 
The repentance and sense of sin which John required as essen- 
tial preliminaries of the former, could in no way belong to 
Him, who, when the rite was administered, became revealed to 
the baptiser as the Messiah, the Deliverer from sin. But while 
the significance of the rite, thus varied with the subjects to 
whom it was administered, there was at bottom a substantial 
element which they shared in common. In both it marked 
the commencement of a new course of life ; but while the 
baptism of the members prepared them to receive pardon and 
salvation, the baptism of Christ was his consecration to the 
work of bestowing those precious gifts. Upon that work He 
was now about to enter, and it was proper that He should be 
set apart by his forerunner, and that He should manifest his 
connection with him, and give His sanction to what he had 
done. Besides, it would be requisite that some public act 

8* 



4 7 8 THIRTY-SECOND WEEK THURSDAY. 

should mark the commencement of his ministry, and afford 
Occasion for God to declare by some manifest sign his appro- 
bation of Him, and his solemn appointment to the office of 
Ihe Messiah. 

This was done upon the instant of his coming out from the 
water. For, " Lo, the heavens were opened unto Him, and 
he saw the Spirit of God descending in a bodily shape like a 
dove, and lighting upon Him ; and, lo, a voice from heaven, 
saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." 
A question or two grows out of this. " He saw" it ; who was 
it that saw it? If but one, it was certainly John ; for he de- 
clared subsequently that this was the appointed sign by which 
he should know the Messiah, and when he saw it, he knew 
that Jesus was the Christ. John i. 32-34. Being thus in- 
tended as a sign to him individually, to enable him to bear 
witness to the person (as he had before done to the office) 
with no uncertain voice, the real object was accomplished when 
he had seen this appearance ; and it must remain uncertain 
whether it was witnessed by others or not. We incline to 
think that it was beheld by others present ; for its efficacy as 
a sign to him would not be in any degree impaired by its 
being seen by others also ; and his precise statement, that he 
had seen it, was necessary, because, as this declaration was 
made several weeks later, it is not likely that in the audience 
he then addressed there were any who had been present when 
the manifestation took place. But whether the persons pre- 
sent did behold the descent of the Spirit or not, we make no 
question that they heard the voice. Indeed, the conjunction 
of the voice and the appearance seems to us to indicate that 
both were meant to be witnessed by all present. John indi- 
vidually needed not the voice, the visible appearance being to 
him a sufficient sign. The people needed both together, — be- 
cause, if they had seen the appearance only, they could not 
have known its signification without the accompanying words ; 
and if they heard the voice only, they could not have known 
to whom it referred ; but would have been likely to have sup- 
posed that it applied rather to John himself than to Jesus 



THE BAPTISM OF JESUS. 179 

Indeed, the " This is my beloved Son," seems to bear a clear 
reference to the visible indication of the particular person 
which was then afforded. These remarks may perhaps suffi- 
ciently meet some insidious objections which have been founded 
on the admission, made too hastily by some, that the whole 
was a vision, which John alone witnessed. 

There is one other question, — Was " the bodily shape" in 
which the spirit descended that of a dove, or was the manner 
of the descent only dove-like ? the shape being of some other 
kind, as when Milton renders the text which states that " The 
Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters," into 

" Dove-like sat'st brooding o'er the dark abyss." 

It is certain that the current translation favors the view that 
the form itself was that of a dove, and that it was such is a 
traditional belief, embodied in the ideas and monuments of all 
the churches. Yet we attach no value to these in themselves, 
apart from the testimony of Scripture, which is much less dis- 
tinct on this point than is usually supposed. The "like a 
dove ;" may be very correctly rendered by the word " as a 
dove ;" and in " bodily shape" the last word meaning appear- 
ance ; and with these amendments, the text consists more with 
the idea that it was some visible appearance which descended 
upon Jesus with a motion like that of a dove. It has been 
well remarked, that if nothing had been seen but a dove light- 
ing upon our Saviour, though it might have been noticed as a 
remarkable circumstance, there would have been no proof that 
it was supernatural ; for surely the mere fact of a dove de- 
scending from the clouds and lighting upon an individual, 
could not be considered as a direct or satisfactory proof of the 
Divine interference. Besides, we do not read in any part of 
the sacred volume of any similar manifestation. It was cer- 
tainly, however, a visible appearance ; and if it was not that 
of a dove, what was it ? To form a mere conjecture without 
the support of Scripture might not be advisable ; but we may 
still inquire what was the most usual symbol of the Divine 
presence ? Now, we know with certainty that this was fire, 



180 THIRTY-SECOND WEEK FRIDAY. 

or light, or "glory." Such was the resplendent light which 
hovered over the Tabernacle in the wilderness, and which set- 
tled between the cherubim in Solomon's temple. Such, too, 
was the symbol on the day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit 
descended upon the apostles and disciples. We are expressly 
told that lambent flames of fire, or, what is the same thing, 
"cloven tongues as of fire," came down from above, and lighted 
on them, and remained upon them. We are entitled, then, to 
conclude that after the baptism of Jesus, when it is said that 
the Holy Spirit descended upon Him, a flame of fire, or a 
bright shining light, was seen darting upon Him from heaven, 
or moving in the manner of a dove towards Him, and that it 
rested upon him, or perhaps surrounded him, and remained 
for some time encircling him.* 



THIRTY-SECOND WEEK— FRIDAY. 

CHRIST IN THE WILDERNESS. 
MATT. IV. 1-3 : MARK I. 12, 13 ; LUKE IV. 1, 2. 

After his baptism by John in the Jordan, Jesus withdrew 
at once into the wilderness, as if to elude, rather than take ad- 
vantage of the public attention which had been directed to 
Him on that occasion. As our Lord made the great events 
of his life occasions of special prayer, it was doubtless for devo- 
tional retirement, and for meditation on the great work He had 
undertaken, that He now withdrew into the wilderness. That 
it is distinguished as " the wilderness," and not by any name, 
seems to indicate that this wilderness was in the near neigh- 
borhood of the place where He had been baptized. There is, 
therefore, sufficient probability in the tradition which finds this 
wilderness in the desolate region east of Jerusalem, overlooking 
the valley of the Jordan. The high mountain which the same 
tradition makes the immediate scene of the " temptation" that 

* See Da. Thomson. £zpotiti<?n of St. Luke, i. 123-5. Edinburgh ; 1849. 



CHRIST IN THE WILDERNESS. 181 

ensued, is from this tradition called Quarantania, and lies about 
three miles north of the road to Jericho. It is 1500 or 2000 
feet high, and is- distinguished for its sere and desolate aspect, 
even in this gloomy region of savage and dreary sights. Its 
highest summit is crowned with a chapel, still occasionally re- 
sorted to by ardent pilgrims, while its eastern face, which over- 
hangs the plain, and commands a noble view of the Arabian 
mountains, is much occupied with grottos and cells, formerly 
the chosen abodes of pious anchorites. 

It is noted by St. Mark that He was here " with the wild 
beasts," a circumstance which shows the desolate and unfre- 
quented character of the region to which He had retired. 
Wild beasts like the neighborhood of rivers, harboring, accord- 
ing to their various habits, in the jungle with which they are 
bordered, or in the ravines of the neighboring mountains, 
especially where natural caverns are found. These wild beasts 
may have been lions, panthers, bears, and wolves, — all of 
which are mentioned in Scripture, and all except the first still 
existing in Palestine. These are all dangerous to men ; but 
they could not harm Jesus ; and we may well suppose with 
the poet, that 

" They at his sight grew mild, 
Nor sleeping Him nor waking harm'd ; his walk 
The fiery serpent fled and noxious worm ; 
The lion and fierce tiger glared aloof." — Milton. 

Of the like long fasting, we have antecedent examples in the 
cases of Moses and of Elijah ; and these cases, like this, were 
doubtless miraculous. It is beyond the powers of nature to 
endure such privations. There is no authenticated instance of 
any healthy person having remained for nearly so long a time 
without food, — though what may be possible in certain dis- 
eased conditions of the bodily functions, we are not prepared 
to say. The longest well-attested case of abstinence we have 
seen recorded, is that of the fourteen men and one woman of 
the ship Juno, wrecked many years ago on the coast of Arracan, 
and who lived twenty-three days without a morsel of food 



182 THIRTY-SECOND WEEK— FRIDAY. 

There are indeed many stories of persons who, from mistaken 
devotion, have endeavored to imitate this fasting of our Lord, 
and some of whom are said to have exceeded this period be- 
fore they died of hunger, or desisted from the attempt. But 
it is likely that most of these tales are fictitious. In certain 
old churches there are effigies representing persons in the last 
stage of emaciation — perfect living skeletons — in explanation 
of which the notion was taken up, that the persons represented, 
and entombed below, died of starvation in the attempt to imi- 
tate this forty days' fast. It may well be doubted that these 
effigies have any such signification. The mention this year 
(1852), by a correspondent of Notes and Queries, of such a 
tradition connected with an effigy of this sort (a corpse in a 
winding-sheet) over the tomb of John Baret, in the tomb of 
St. Mary, Bury St. Edmunds, led to the production of various 
curious particulars on the subject in successive numbers of that 
publication — chiefly indicating the churches and cathedrals in 
which are found such figures of corpses or skeletons wrapped 
in shrouds, in connection with most of which the same tradi- 
tions locally prevail,* but are generally disbelieved by the 
writers ; though, as one remarks, it is possible that some of 
them may commemorate deaths by fasting. Another thinks, 

* One representing Tully, Bishop of St. David, in the parish church 
of Tenley ; one in Feniton church, Devon ; one in Exeter cathedral ; 
one in Lincoln cathedral to Bishop Fleming ; one in Salisbury cathe- 
dral ; two in Winchester cathedral, respectively to Bishop Richard Fox 
and Stephen Gardiner; one in St. Saviour, Southwark; one in St. 
John's College chapel, Cambridge ; one (supposed to be Abbot Wake- 
man) at Tewkesbury ; one in the wall of the yard of St. Peter's church, 
Drogheda ; one in Fyfield church, Berks, of Sir John Golafre (temp. 
Hen. v.) ; one in the parish church of Ewelme, Oxon ; six in as many 
churches in Norfolk ; one at Asby Folaile, in Leicestershire, where the 
reference in the inscription (Latin) to the passage where Job alludes 
to the destruction of his body by worms, and to his confident expecta- 
tion, that yet in his flesh he should see God, seems to supply a clear 
indication of the real nature of these monuments. There are doubt- 
less many more such effigies ; not to speak of numerous monumental 
brasses of the same character. In fact, the number of the examples 
would alone suggest the purely emblematic character of the device. 



CHRIST IN THE WILDERNESS. 183 

that if anything were wanting " to refute the absurd notion of 
forty days' fast," the figure at Tewkesbury would supply the 
clue to the true conception of the artist ; and show that it was 
intended by such figures to remind the passers-by of their own 
mortality, by representing the hollow cheek, and sunken eyes, 
and emaciated form, of a corpse from which life had only re- 
cently departed ; for in this instance the representation is car- 
ried much farther, even to the more humbling and revolting 
processes of corruption and decay in a corpse that has lain 
some time in the grave. Another correspondent shows that 
these monuments were sometimes erected by the individual 
himself during his life, as an act of humiliation, and to remind 
himself and others of mortality, and of the instability of human 
grandeur. That the general purport of these representations 
was simply to remind men that the robes of pride must soon 
be exchanged for the winding-sheet, and that beauty and 
strength are hastening to the period when they shall become 
like this, seems to be shown by the inscription on the tomb 
of John Brigge, Salle church, Norfolk, 1454 : — 

Here lyth John Briggs Undir this Marbil stone, 
Whos sowl our lorde ihu have mercy vpon, 
For in this world worthyly he lived many a day, 
And here his bodi is berried and cowched undir clay. 
Lo, frendis, see, whatever ye be, pray for me i you pray, 
As ye me see in soche degre, So schall ye be another day.* 

When the forty days had expired, our Lord began to feel 
the sharp pangs of hunger ; and it was then that Satan, who 
doubtless had been needfully watching an opportunity to assail 
Him at disadvantage, thought he perceived an opening for his 
insidious approaches. 

But we shall better comprehend the details of this remark- 
able transaction in our Lord's life, if we first inquire into its es- 
sential character ; for it is one of the most difficult — if not the 
most difficult — to interpret of all the events in sacred history. 

* See various contributions in Notes and Queries, No. 124, 126, 128, 
181, 134, 150,153. 



184 THIRTY-SECOND WEEK FRIDAY. 

This is evinced by the very great difference in the opinions 
which have been formed as to the mode in which the tempta- 
tions were presented to our Saviour. 

If we give to the gospel narratives the most literal interpre- 
tation, we must understand that Satan appeared to Christ in 
some bodily shape — but what shape we know not — and held 
with Him, in an audible voice, the conversation recorded ; thai 
he conveyed Jesus to the temple at Jerusalem, and afterwards 
placed Him on the top of a high mountain, from which a view 
of the whole world was exhibited to Him. This, we apprehend, 
is the sense in which the narrative is usually understood ; and 
although it has many difficulties — some from the nature of the 
circumstances, and some from the relative position of the par- 
ties — no one can safely say that it is wrong, though he may be 
at liberty to suggest what appears to him a more probable in- 
terpretation. 

Some take it to be a parabolic description of an actual event. 
It is supposed that the tempter may have been the high priest, 
or some member delegated to discover the real pretensions of 
Jesus. Having received intelligence of the testimony borne by 
John to Jesus, this person was commissioned to follow Him into 
the wilderness ; and after requiring Him to perform certain 
miracles in attestation of his mission, held forth to Him the 
splendid objects of temporal ambition which lay before Him, if 
He would at once place himself at the head of the nation as its 
divinely commissioned leader. But it seems highly improbable 
that Jesus should at so early a period have become of so much 
importance to the ruling powers ; and it is hardly reconcilable 
with the cautious distance at which the authorities observed his 
conduct even at a later period, that they should at once have 
hastened to commit themselves by such proposals as the temp- 
tation involved. 

There are some who apprehend that the temptations were 
necessarily presented to our Lord in a vision. The strength 
of this hypothesis lies in the fact, that He is said to have been 
shown all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them, — 
which is literally impossible, and could only be true in a vision ; 



CHRIST IN THE WILDERNESS. 185 

and if this was visionary, why not the rest ? All the purposes 
of the temptation might be as well answered by vision as by 
reality, and we find in Scripture that such things do take place 
in visions ; as when Ezekiel* says • " In the visions of God 
brought He me into the land of Israel, and set me upon a very 
high mountain ;" and Johnf says : " He carried me away in 
the spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me that 
great city, the holy Jerusalem." It is also pointed out, that 
many things are represented in Scripture as being actually done 
which were only done in vision ;J and it is remembered that 
St Paul calls his being " caught up into the third heaven, and 
into paradise,"^ a vision and revelation of the Lord, and de- 
clares that he could not tell whether he was in the body or out 
of the body ; from which instance, and that of Peter, H it seems 
that neither of the apostles could at first distinguish visions 
from impressions made upon the senses. The main objection 
to this view, and one which equally applies to the literal view, 
is, that the apostle declares our Lord to have been " in all 
things tempted like as we are," and proposes this fact for our 
encouragement and example. If he does not specially refer to 
this temptation, he must include it; but w r e are not thus 
tempted and tried, and the encouragement and strengthening 
to us are less than were the example to be found in something 
nearer to our own experience. 

Another view is, that the temptations were presented by the 
power of God making suitable revelations to the mind of Jesus, 
with a view to his future trials, and are merely called tempta- 
tions of the devil, because couched under the similitude of Sa- 
tan coming to Him and offering Him temptations. But this 
we fear tends rather to bewilder than satisfy the mind, by cast- 
ing uncertainty upon the use of the terms employed in Scrip- 
ture ; though, as it was the purpose of the Father that the Son 
should be thus tempted, and it could only have been by hia 

* Ezekiel xl. 2. f Rev. xxi. 10. 

" % Gen. xxxii. 30 ; Jer. xiii. xiv. xxy. xxvii. ; Ezek. iii. iv. v. 

§ 1 Cor. xii. 1-4. 1 Acts xii. 7-9 



186 THIRTY-SECOND WEEK— SATURDAY. 

ordinance and permission, it must be true that in the remoter 
sense these things may be traced to God. 

We shall at present only notice one more interpretation, 
which is simply this, that the temporal and earthly thoughts 
which constituted these temptations, and which are paraboli- 
cally described as a personal conflict with the evil one, were the 
results of our Lord's own reflections, and constituted a mental 
struggle, such as we know but too well in our own experience, 
and in which lay his being tempted like as we are. This view, 
which derives these thoughts from himself, and regards them, 
as proceeding from his own mind, does not meet the idea which 
one forms of Christ's nature and perfections. It revolts us as 
an outrage against his person; and, as a writer who has re- 
ferred to it warmly declares, "Had Jesus cherished such 
thoughts in the faintest degree, He had been Christ no longer ;"* 
or, as another says : " We dare not suppose in Him a choice 
which, presupposing within Him a tendency for evil, would in- 
volve the necessity of his comparing the evil with the good- 
and deciding between them."f Such an interpretation is only 
possible on the supposition, which some have hazarded, that 
on this and some other occasions He was abandoned by the 
Divine Spirit which rested without measure on Him, and 
was left as a man to struggle with the temptations and trials 
of men. 

To-morrow we must try to find our way through these diffi- 
culties. 



THIRTY-SECOND WEEK— SATURDAY. 

THE THREE TEMPTATIONS. MATT. IV. 3-11 *, LUKE IV. 3-13. 

The plain object of the temptation to which our Lord was 
subjected was to induce Him to exercise the miraculous power 
rested in Him for personal objects — objects of selfish qualifica- 
tion and aggrandisement ; and to lead Him to forego his high 
* Schleiermapher in Olshausen. f Neander in L[fc of Jesus, 



THE THREE TEMPTATIONS. 187 

career as the redeemer of the world, and the teacher of a holy 
and purifying doctrine — involving, as He knew it did, suffering 
strife, torture, and death to himself, for the comparatively 1 w 
and vulgar objects of personal ambition — to conquer and reign 
in this world, and to be hailed wherever He went by the ac- 
clamations of exulting thousands. That the Messiah would be 
such was the expectation of the people. And the temptations 
presented to Him were, that He should take his stand upon 
these expectations — sure of success if He employed his miracu- 
lous powers in subservience to these wordly objects ; first in at- 
testing the truth of his mission to the people, and next, in 
holding them on to the realization of the expectations they en- 
tertained. But let us look to these temptations more closely. 

Jesus was suffering the pangs of real hunger, nor was any 
food to be obtained in that wilderness. There is no severer 
physical want than hunger (unless thirst be greater) — none 
that occasions severer pangs — none that more tempts to ex- 
treme resourses for its gratification. Under these circumstances 
it might seem, at the first view, perfectly natural to one con- 
scious of possessing miraculous powers, that he should exercise 
those powers in turning into real bread some of the loaf-like 
stones that lay around, for the satisfaction of his wants. But 
Jesus at once detected the insidious nature of this suggestion, 
and perceived how the position He came to fill would be lower- 
ed, and his miraculous powers degraded, if He employed them 
to relieve his own need, instead of reserving them as a high 
and holy trust for the benefit of others, evincing the Divine 
origin of the pure religion He came to establish. He there- 
fore repelled this suggestion by producing the text (Deut. viii. 
3) which, with reference to the supply of manna to the wan- 
dering Israelites when they sighed for bread, intimates that 
bread alone was not essential to subsistence, for God had or- 
dained other means, or in his providence could furnish other 
means, of supporting life ; thus meaning to say, that bread was 
not so needful as that He should work a miracle to obtain it ; 
but that it became Him rather to seek some other food, less 
agreeable perhaps, but mora easily obtained ; or await in pa 



188 THIRTY-SECOND WEEK SATURDAY. 

tience for what the Father's providence might present. By thd 
rule of conduct which was elicited by this temptation, Jesus 
never after failed to act. It was on this principle that He acted 
when He suffered the apostles to satisfy their hunger with the 
corn they had plucked, rather than work a miracle to supply 
them with better. food. On this principle He acted, when He 
gave himself up to the officers sent to apprehend Him, rather 
than seek deliverance by a Divine interposition. Of the same 
kind too was his trial when He hung upon the cross, and those 
that passed by said : " If He be the king of Israel let Him now 
come down from the cross, and we will believe Him." 

The next temptation presented by Satan was subtle in the 
highest degree. It was that Jesus should try the existence of. 
his power by making such an ostentatious use of it, in such a 
manner that if it failed it would humble or destroy Him, or, if 
it succeeded, must commit Him to the popular views of the 
Messiah's temporal reign. It was that He should cast himself 
down from the highest summit of the temple. The text which 
was quoted as an inducement, as to his being borne up by an- 
gels rather than that He should dash his foot against a stone, 
seems to indicate that Satan meant to suggest a doubt of the 
power, hi order to tempt to its unworthy exercise. But the 
result would probably have been, that, if He had not this power, 
He would be dashed in pieces ; and if He had, and accomplish- 
ed this feat, He might have seemed to descend from heaven, 
and would in all probability have been hailed with wonder and 
delight by the assembled worshippers, as the long-desired Mes- 
siah. This would have formed a beginning well suited to the 
expectations which the Jewish people entertained. But this 
temptation was also repelled by a convincing text from the Scrip- 
ture. " It is written, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God ;" 
meaning that one should not throw himself wilfully into need- 
less danger in trust upon the Lord's deliv trance, or to try 
whether the Lord would deliver Him or not. On this princi- 
ple also our Lord acted through his whole career. He never 
voluntarily exposed himseit to peril. He always employed wi.-e 
and prudent means to escape the toils of his enemies ; and He 



THE THREE TEMPTATIONS. 189 

went forth with trust in God and in submission to his will, to 
meet only such dangers as his Divine mission made necessary, 
and which He could not avoid without unfaithfulness to the 
great task He had undertaken. 

The baffle} tempter now more plainly and broadly disclosed 
his real objects, and openly played his last stroke. He showed 
to Jesus all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them ; 
and declaring that they were at his disposal, offered them all 
as the price of submission to him. The homage he asked was 
not that of Divine worship. Even the devil would not have 
been mad enough to ask that of Jesus. But it was that He 
should essentially serve him, and render him homage "as the 
prince of this world," by relinquishing his spiritual mission, and 
making it such a temporal one as the Jews looked for ; under- 
taking, in case he would consent to the establishment of an 
outward kingdom with worldly splendors, that the most extrav- 
agant of their expectations with regard to the universal domin- 
ion of the Messiah should be realized. And undoubtedly, if it 
had been possible that Jesus should have consented to appear 
as king of the Jews, the whole nation would have crowded 
with enthusiasm to his standard ; and it is difficult to assign 
any limits to the dominion of a prince, who could support his 
armies, and destroy his enemies, by miracle. 

The boldness of this suggestion of Satan required a stern 
and unmistakable rebuke. Jesus had suffered them thus far, 
but now He sends him away with indignation: "Get thee 
hence, Satan ; for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord 
thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve." Him only — this 
was the key of all. There could not be two masters — no 
divided empire. The kingdom must either be wholly spiritual \ 
— that is, of God ; or wholly temporal — that is, of the devil. J 
And there could be no question which it should be — " Him 
only shalt thou serve." " No man can serve two masters ; he 
cannot serve God and mammon." 



190 THIRTY-THIRD WEEK SUNDAY. 

"tempted like as WE ARE." LUKE IV. 13. 

It demands particular notice that at the end of the history 
of our Lord's temptation it is stated, that " when the devil had 
ended all the temptation, he departed from Him for a season" 
This plainly implies, and indeed expresses, that he returned at 
a future time — once, if not oftener. Accordingly, towards the 
close of the life of Jesus, there is a clear intimation of another 
great temptation — the agony in the Garden of Gethsemane. 
The presence of Satanic influence does not indeed appear in 
the history of that transaction ; but just before he arose to pro- 
ceed to that scene of bitter trial, our Lord, in anticipation of 
what awaited Him, distinctly expressed its nature to his disci- 
ples : " the prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in 
Me." The " prince of this world" is of course the same Satan 
who appears in the temptation before us, and who here indeed 
distinctly claims the princedom of the world. In the second 
instance it is as distinctly said that " he cometh," as in the first 
that "he came;" yet in the history of the agony we find no 
notice of his presence in any bodily or visible shape, and indeed 
but for this antecedent intimation, we should not with certainty 
know that Satan had any part in that awful scene. This simi- 
larity may lead us to inquire, Whether, more in the wilderness 
than in the garden, Satan was present other than by his sug- 
gestions, which being at once recognised by Christ as from 
him, rendered him as really present as if he had stood in a 
bodily shape. Indeed, the difference is really small, and not^ 
worth contending for. If we believe that there is such a being 
as Satan, as a personal agent, there can be no difficulty in be- 
lieving in his personal presence ; and if personally present, it 
is easy to conceive that he could not be hid from Jesus, although, 
under the like circumstances, we only become aware of his 
presence by the nature of his suggestions — by the torturing 
pressure of his hot hand upon our souls. 



"TEMPTED LIKE AS WE ABE." 191 

It is therefore really immaterial whether Satan did or did 
not appear in a more distinct embodiment in this temptation 
than in any other. However understood, his presence was not 
the less actual, nor his temptations the less real. 

It appears to us, that on the two occasions to which we 
refer, the presence of Satan is indicated by the evangelists with 
more or less distinctness — and in the present instance with the 
greatest possible distinctness — for the simple and single purpose 
of showing that the suggestions with which our Lord was tried, 
and which constituted the temptation, were such as could not 
possibly have proceeded from his own mind (as one of the 
interpretations stated yesterday supposes), but could only have 
been presented to him from without. It was thus with the 
second Adam as with the first ; and Satan sought to take the 
same course with Him which he had found so fatally successful 
with the first Adam — imparting, however, a different character 
to the suggestions, as suited the differences in their circum- 
stances, their endowments, and their conditions. 

There was, however, this serious difference — Adam was not 
able at once to discover the source from which the temptation 
came ; and Satan did not find that his heart offered a soil 
absolutely incapable of receiving and nourishing the evil seed 
he desired to sow. But Jesus at once beheld the tempter and 
temptation revealed in their naked deformity, and in his soul 
there was no place where the evil thoughts which Satan offered 
could take root. It is thus that, in reference to the last recorded 
temptation, our Lord says : "The prince of this world cometh, 
and hath nothing in Me ;" and this was his security, that though 
the suggestions might try Him — and try Him severely, as they 
did in this latter instance — they could not prevail over Him, — 
He was sure to be at last victorious. In reference to the text 
we have just cited, a commentator of our own day well para- 
phrases our Lord's expression : " There is in Me no principle 
or feeling that accords with his, and nothing therefore by which 
he can prevail ;" and he goes on to remark—" Temptation can 
only prevail because there are some principles of evil that 
accord with the designs of the tempter ; and which may be 



192 THIRTY-THIRD WEEK SUNDAY. 

excited by presenting corresponding objects till our virtue be 
overcome. Where there is no such principle, temptation has 
no power. As Jesus had no such evil principle — as he was 
not at all under the influence of any evil depravity or attach- 
ment to forbidden objects, Satan had nothing in him, and hence 
could not prevail."* Of precisely the like purport, corrobora- 
tory of this, is the passage in which the Apostle speaks of our 
Lord as " tempted like as we are, yet without sm." Tempted 
like as we are by Satan from without ; but, being without sin, 
necessarily incapable of being tempted by evil thoughts origin- 
ating from within ; and although not, as a man, incapable of 
moral suffering and struggle when such temptations were pre- 
sented to his mind, yet sure to triumph because they were 
altogether abhorrent to the sinless nature of One who could 
lift uj) his head in the midst of those who watched for his halt- 
ing and thirsted for his blood, and cry aloud, " Which of you 
convincelh Me of sin ?" 

In closing the consideration we have given to this subject, 
we must not omit to point out the profit which we may derive 
from the example of our Saviour in repelling the suggestions 
of Satan. The method He employed was indeed doubtless in- 
tended for our instruction. He repelled temptation by calling 
to mind apposite passages of Scripture ; and cannot we do 
the same ? " All that we have to do, is to treasure up in our 
memories the passages of Scripture which relates to tempta- 
tions, and especially those passages that refer to the sin which 
most easily besets ourselves. . . . By this simple, easy way, 
we shall be enabled, with the blessing of God, to escape or re- 
sist every temptation. For to our own humble exertions, we 
must ardently pray, that God would direct and strengthen us, 
and enable us to overcome every difficulty. And let it be im- 
pressed on our minds that every successful resistance to temp- 
tation will render us better, more vigorous, more exalted, more 
improved, and more happy Christians."! 

* Barnes on this text. 

f Dr Thomson's Expository Lectures on St. Luke, i. p. 140, 141. 



THE BAPTIST AND THE DELEGATES. 193 

THIRTY-THIRD WEEK— MONDAY. 

THE BAPTIST AND THE DELEGATES. JOHN I. 19-27. 

While Jesus was away in the wilderness, the wonderful 
success of John the Baptist, the crowds that followed him, and 
the influence he was gaining over the minds of the people, at- 
tracted the serious attention of the ruling authorities among 
the Jews ; and the Sanhedrim or great council of the nation, 
which was especially charged with the care of religious mat- 
ters, felt itself bound to send a deputation of its members to 
ascertain from John's own mouth the doctrine he taught, and 
the nature of his claims as a religious teacher — indeed, as a 
prophet. It is intimated incidentally that those who were sent 
were mostly Pharisees, whose influence seems at that time to 
have been paramount in the council. And the delegates 
framed their interrogatories in conformity with the popular 
traditions, or even as with the prophetic writings which per- 
sons of the Sadducean sect would not have done. 

It would appear as if some of the followers of John had 
begun to question whether he might not be himself the Mes- 
siah ; and hence the first question is directed to that point. 
It has been suspected that, as some of the delegates were 
priests, they would not have been reluctant to have found the 
Messiah in John, who belonged by birth to their own order. 
But nothing was better known to them than that the Messiah 
was to be of the tribe of Judah, and they would not have 
thought of asking such a question of one whom they knew to 
be of the Levitical tribe, had not some rumors reached their 
ears. John, who avowedly did not like the Pharisees, and had 
on a former occasion called them a " brood of vipers," answered 
this and the other questions put to him with remarkable but 
decisive bluntness. He told them plainly he was not the 
Christ. " What then," said they, " art thou Elias f To this 
also he answered " I am not !" But did not Jesus himself say 
that he was ? They thought, as we formerly explained, that 
Elias was to come in his own proper person, and in that sense 

vol. in. 9 



194 THIRTY-THIRD WEEK MONDAY. 

— the sense of their question — he certainly was not Elias. If 
they had asked if he came in the spirit and power of Elias, he 
would have given a different answer. But it may be asked, 
How they, knowing the birth and parentage of John, could 
conceive it possible that he, in their sense, could be Elias ? The 
answer is found in the fact that the Jews at this time believed 
in a sort of transmigration of souls, and might therefore havo 
supposed that John was in a very literal sense no other than 
Elias. We find a curious instance of their belief in this respect 
in Luke ix. 7, where the Jews take Christ to be John the Bap- 
tist resuscitated. 

John was then asked by the delegates if he were " that 
prophet." This is sometimes supposed to refer to the predic- 
tion of Moses, that the Lord should raise up unto them a 
prophet like himself; but the Jews themselves understood this 
text to refer to the Messiah, and the question, if thus under 
stood, had therefore been already answered, when he ac- 
knowledged that he was not the Christ. They probably 
meant to ask if he were Jeremiah, to whom tradition assigned 
the name of the " prophet" who was to rise from the dead at 
the coming of the Messiah, in order, as it was supposed, to re- 
store to the temple the ark and altar of incense, which he was 
said to have concealed in a cavern at the destruction of the 
temple by Nebuchadnezzar.* To this question John answered 
by a simple " No." 

Somewhat affronted at the rude curtness of his answers, the 
delegates reminded him that they questioned him not in their 
own name, but on the part of them who were authorized to 
inquire into such matters ; and then asked him the plain ques- 
tion, " Who art thou ?" To which he replied that he was the 
harbinger described in the prophet Isaiah, who, according to 
the custom in the progresses of the Oriental monarchs, was to 
go before, and, cutting through mountains and bridging val- 
leys to make a wide and level way for the advance of the great 
king. 

The carnal mind of those who had been sent to John, did 
*2 Mace. xv. 18, 14 : 2 Esdras ii. 16-18. 



THE BAPTIST AND THE DELEGATES. 



195 



not allow them rightly to comprehend his reply ; and they 
asked him sharply, why then and by what authority he bap- 
tized, if he was neither of the personages they had designated. 
This was a natural question for persons belonging to a sect so 
much absorbed in ritual observances to ask. If the rite of 
baptism was not previously known, and this we have explained 
to be uncertain, their question demands on what authority he 
ventured to introduce a new rite. If the rite was known, as 
used for the initiation of Gentile converts, then their question 
requires him to state how he dared to extend that rite to Jews 
also, who had already by the rite of circumcision been placed 
under the full privileges and obligations of the law of Moses. 
Their tone is certainly that of persons inclined to exercise their 
authority in forbidding him to baptize. Indeed, it was prob- 
ably John's conviction that the ruling powers regarded him 
with favor, which occasioned the brevity and reserve of his an- 
swers. In reply to their last question, he becomes, however, 
more full and explicit. He tells them that his was merely a 
prefigurative baptism — a baptism of water, and that it claimed 
not to be the real baptism, the baptism of the Spirit — which 




*4H2. 



was the work of one who then stood unrecognized among them, 
and whom he then forebore to point out, but in relation to 
whom he was but as a servant or a disciple. This he expressed 
by the emphatic figure — " The thong of whose sandal I am 



196 THIRTY-THIRD WEEK TUESDAY. 

not worthy to stoop clown and unloose." The loose shoes or 
slippers in use among the modern Orientals are easily cast off 
by the wearer ; but this was not the case with the ancient 
sandals, which, being bound to the feet by thongs, could not 
be unfastened without some trouble. The operation was hence 
usually performed by servants, whence the act of unloosing 
the sandals of another became a popular symbol of servitude. 
Or it may, in this and other instances, mean no more than 
scholarship ; for we find that, among the Jews, scholars fre- 
quently performed this service for their teachers or rabbis ; and 
it is laid down in the Talmud, that "All services which a 
slave renders to his master, the disciple renders to his rabbi." 



■ THIRTY-THIRD WEEK— TUESDAY. 

THE FIRST DISCIPLES. JOHN I. 29-51. 

It appears from the words in which John closed the discus- 
sion with the delegates from the Sanhedrim, that Jesus himself 
was present among the auditors of that discussion. It thus 
seems that, after the temptation, He sought the spot where 
John was then preaching and baptizing: His object in this 
was, doubtless, that his first selection of disciples might be 
made from those who had profited by the training of John, and 
who had most fully realized the objects of his preparatory mis- 
sion. Besides that He would so obtain followers from those 
already prepared to receive Him. He would thus, by trans- 
ferring some of John's most ardent disciples to his service, con- 
nect the ministry of the great harbinger with his own. 

On the occasion referred to yesterday, John, in that public 
audience, was content to declare the presence of the mightier 
Teacher of whom he had spoken, without designating the in- 
dividual. But as he next day stood surrounded by his fol- 
lowers, and saw Jesus approaching, he did not hesitate to point 
Him out distinctly ; explaining the grounds, furnished by what 



THE FIRST DISCIPLES. 107 

occurred at his baptism, on which he knew Jesus to be the 
Messiah. The terms in which he described Him are very re- 
markable : " Behold the Lamb of God, that taketh away the 
sins of the world." It has been suggested, and is altogether 
likely, that the expression was founded upon a circumstance 
then actually passing before their eyes ; being the passage, at 
this ford, of flocks of sheep and lambs, from the rich pastures 
beyond the Jordan, on their way to Jerusalem, to supply the 
daily sacrifice, or to meet the demands of the Passover. Re- 
collectiug that the Messiah had been predicted by Isaiah (liii.) 
as a lamb led to the slaughter, to show his patience under 
suffering, and his readiness to die for man's redemption, the 
allusion was perfectly natural, whether suggested or not by such 
a circumstance. Besides, it gave John occasion to protest 
against the common notion of the Messiah's office, of which the 
lion, rather than the lamb, would have been the fit, and, to the 
nation generally, the more acceptable emblem. It is impossi- 
ble to understand these words in any other sense than that 
John understood that Christ was to die for the sins of the 
world ; for a lamb could only bear sin by a sacrificial death. 
It has, indeed, been objected, that a lamb is not a sin-offering 
under the law. But Lev. iv. 32-35 shows this to be a mistake. 
Were it otherwise, however, the real sense is illustrated by the 
use of the analogous term in other parts of the New Testa- 
ment ; as where Christ is described by analogies drawn from 
the paschal lamb,* and is represented as " the Lamb slain from 
the foundation of the world." It would thus appear that John 
possessed a more exact conception of the objects for which 
Christ came into the world than has usually been ascribed to 
him. If these words mean anything, they mean the doctrine 
of the atonement for sin by the death of Christ, — the true 
evangelical view, which was not understood even by the apos- 
tles themselves until after the resurrection. Whether John 
had been led to this view by the study of that chapter in 
Isaiah to which he apparently refers, or had received special 
enlightenment from on high, must be left to conjecture. 
* John xix. 36 ; 1 Cor. v 1 



198 THIRTY-THIRD WEEK TUESDAY. 

The, next day, John stood with only two of his disciples ; 
and, seeing Jesus pass by, he repeated the indication which he 
had given the day before to a larger assembly, " Behold the 
Lamb of God." Impressed no less by the deep import of these 
words, than by the look of fixed attention and reverent regard 
which the speaker fixed upon the person who went by, and en- 
couraged, doubtless, by an approving smile from their master, 
they left his side, and followed the Stranger's steps. One of 
these two was Andrew, the brother of Peter. The other is not 
named ; but the narrator being John, it is usually understood 
that the one whom he designates as " the other disciple" was 
himself, as on other occasions this evangelist does not expressly 
point to himself, but modestly refrains from making his personal 
relations conspicuous. 

Jesus walked thoughtfully on ; and the two young men, 
though they followed Him closely, respectfully forbore to accost 
Him, or were perhaps reluctant to break in upon his medita 
tions. But perceiving that He was followed, He turned round 
and asked them what they wished. They were too modest to 
obtrude themselves at once as his companions ; and, therefore, 
merely requested to know where He dwelt, that they might at 
another time call upon Him. But Jesus, full of love, took 
them immediately along with Him. It was then four o'clock ; 
and, attracted by his blessed discourse, they remained with 
Him till the close of the day. He then dismissed them, in 
order to allow the seed which He had quietly sown, to develop 
itself within them. 

This was the real beginning of the Christian Church. 

Andrew knew that his brother Simon was among those who 
earnestly " waited for the consolation of Israel." He therefore 
hastened to impart to him the joyful tidings that the Messiah 
had indeed come ; and, together, the two brothers then repaired 
to Jesus. As soon as the Lord beheld Simon, and without 
waiting for Andrew to introduce him, He accosted him by his 
name — " Thou art Simon, the son of Jonas : thou shalt be 
called Cephas." This means a stone, or rock ; and " Peter," 
as he is otherwise called, is a Greek word of the same meaning. 



THE FIRST DISCIPLES. 199 

The analogy is not seen in our language ; but it is in French 
in which pierre means both " Peter" and " stone." Of this cus- 
tom of changing names we have formerly spoken ; and it now 
only remains to add, that the Jewish rabbis were also in the 
habit of giving to their disciples certain by-names. In the 
present instance, Jesus, knowing perfectly what was in man, 
looks at once through Peter, and sees in him a reckless bold- 
ness, combined with an undue measure of confidence in him- 
self. His character, however, purified and sanctified by the 
Holy Spirit, Jesus foresaw would be peculiarly serviceable in 
the establishment of the Christian Church ; and hence the sig- 
nificant application of the name He bestowed. 

These three had been directed to Jesus. The next was 
summoned by himself. This was Philip, a townsman and 
probably a friend of Andrew and Peter — all, indeed, being 
fishermen of the Lake of Tiberias, a body of water in which fish 
are still most abundant. It is likely that Philip had already 
heard what the two brothers had to impart, and was hence 
prepared to follow Jesus, when He called to him, "Follow 
Me !" Philip sought out a friend of his named Nathaniel, and 
announced to him exultingiy, that he had found the long 
promised Messiah in the person of " Jesus of Nazareth, the son 
of Joseph." Nathaniel started at this, and in all sincerity 
asked, " Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth 2" a 
very emphatic expression of the ill-repute in which this place 
was held. Philip, who was a man of few words and blunt 
manners, did not think it worth while to argue against this 
prejudice, but said to him just the very best thing possible, 
" Come and see." So they went together ; and as they drew 
nigh, Jesus saluted Nathaniel with the emphatic and memora- 
ble words, " Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile." 
Astonished and perplexed, Nathaniel inquired from what source 
Jesus derived his knowledge of him ; on which our Lord, cast- 
ing on him a look of divine complacency, said, " Before that 
Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig-tree, I saw 
thee." It is known that in this age pious Jews, contrasted 
with the Pharisaical hypocrites, who loved to pray in the pub- 



200 THIRTY-THIRD WEEK WEDNESDAY. 

lie streets and market-places, sought the privacy of their high- 
walled gardens, where, under the shade of spreading trees, 
they would pour out their souls before God. Convinced by 
this, that all things were open and known to those eyes which 
now looked so benevolently upon him, Nathaniel at once cast 
off all his first doubts, and cried out with fervor, " Rabbi, Thou 
art the Son of God ; Thou art the King of Israel !" 

The name of Nathaniel does not occur in the list of the 
apostles i but he is universally supposed to be the one who, in 
that list, is distinguished by his father's name, Bartholomew, 
which signifies, " son of Tolmai," — a designation which leaves 
a vacancy for his own proper name, which we shall probably 
not err in supplying by that of " Nathaniel." 



THIRTY-THIRD WEEK— WEDNESDAY. 

THE BEGINNING OF MIRACLES. JOHN II. 1-1 1. 

In the neighborhood of Nazareth there are two villages, one 
of which bears the name of Kefr Kenna, and the other of Kana 
el-Jelil : the former five miles to the north-east, the latter 
about seven miles to the north. In Kana el-Jelil, it is not dif- 
ficult to recognise the "Cana of Galilee," where we next find 
our Saviour, although the former is usually pointed out by the 
monks, and other guides, as the Cana of the New Testament. 
Its nearness to Nazareth probably furnished the ground of this 
identification, notwithstanding the great difference of the name 
to that of Cana of Galilee, and the all but exact identity of the 
other. The indication of this fact is one of the many obliga- 
tions Biblical topography owes to Dr. Robinson ; and his con- 
clusion in this respect will, no doubt, be henceforth generally 
accepted. Thus understood, Cana of Galilee, which seems to 
have been a thriving place at the time before us, inhabited by 
prosperous persons, is now a ruined, neglected spot, but little 
known. " War, bloody, relentless war, has swept over the 



THE BEGINNING OF MIRACLES 201 

little Cana of Galilee; fire and sword have laid waste the 
peaceful village in which Christ met the rejoicing wedding 
party." 

We find Him there " on the third day" after Nathaniel had 
joined Him. He and his disciples might have gone, without 
difficulty, from the banks of the Jordan to Cana in the two 
previous days, the distance being about fifty miles. It is pos- 
sible, however, that only Philip and Nathaniel accompanied 
Him, for we not long after shall find the other three engaged 
in their usual occupations on the Lake of Tiberias, so as to 
suggest the probability that Jesus did not, on this occasion, 
take them on with Him, but had appointed to meet them on 
the shores of the lake at some future day. We know from 
John xxi. 2, that Nathaniel belonged to this place ; and the 
probability seems to be, that something in connection with 
him induced Jesus to accompany him and his friend Philip 
thither ; and that on their arrival a wedding-feast was found 
to be at hand, to which his mother had been invited from 
Nazareth, and had probably already arrived. This fact sug- 
gests that she was an acquaintance of one of the families united 
by this marriage, if not related to it ; and it was probably her 
mention of the fact of her son's arrival, that caused the invita- 
tion to be extended to Him and his disciples, one of whom, at 
least, was already known in the place. That He did not go 
to the wedding at Cana by previous invitation, seems to be 
shown by the long time He had been away from the neigh- 
borhood, and by the disciples being included in the invitation, 
He having had no disciples before. 

The mother of Jesus appears to have taken a part in the 
concerns and proper ordering of this cheerful feast, which 
would alone seem to intimate that she was a friend of the 
family. Thus perceiving that the wine provided for the feast 
was likely to prove insufficient, she mentioned the matter to 
her son. Her object in doing so is not quite clear. Some 
have supposed that the unexpected addition to the party, 
made by himself and his disciples, having been unprovided for, 
was the occasion of this insufficiency ; and that Mary meant 

9* 



202 THIRTY -THIRD WEEK WEDNESDAY. 

to hint to Him that it would be proper for Him to with- 
draw with his followers, and by thus breaking up the whole 
party, spare the host the disgrace of his insufficient supply for 
his guests being exposed. Some imagine that she had been 
bo accustomed to see Him work miracles in the exigencies of 
private life, that she expected He would, by some such means, 
supply the present need. The numerous miracles recorded in 
the apocryphal gospels of the infancy would certainly support 
that interpretation ; but against it, and against the fables on 
which it is founded, we have the positive assurance of the 
evangelist that this was the beginning of his miracles. 
Another explanation is, that Mary had no very definite object 
in view, but having in all things found Him a wise and safe 
adviser, she turned to Him now, in the hope that He might 
suggest some means of help in this emergency. We should 
ourselves prefer this interpretation, were it not that our Lord's re- 
ply clearly intimates that his mother's intimation involved some- 
thing more exacting than was becoming even in her, or than 
was agreeable to Him. It seems to us, therefore, likely that, 
from all she had seen, and heard, and pondered over, she had 
realized such an idea of his power as to conclude it fully equal 
to this singular emergency, however He may have seen fit to 
restrain it hitherto. She may also have had something of the 
motherly feeling that her son was altogether too slow in bring- 
ing himself forward, and that it might be well to quicken Him 
a little, by pressing upon Him this opportunity of bringing 
himself under the public notice. 

His answer was : " Woman, what have I to do with thee ? 
mine hour is not yet come." Dismissing the idea that there 
is anything of rebuke in the term " Woman," as applied to his 
mother — for it is the same epithet with which, in the tender- 
ness of his dying hour, he accosted her from the cross, — it 
must yet be acknowledged that his answer, as a whole, is one 
of rebuke and repression. His design was doubtless to teach 
that there were higher considerations than those of flesh and 
blood, where the interests of God's kingdom were concerned ; 
and, to render that lesson more impressive to us, He taught it 



THE BEGINNING OF MIRACLES. 203 

first to her who, from her peculiar relation to Him, and from 
his having been a most dutiful son in all the common relations 
of life, might too readily be led to think, that she might ven- 
ture to lay the gentle stress of her urgency or her expectations 
upon Him, in matters that affected the conduct of his mission 
to a lost world. Yet, while He would not permit even the 
mother that bore Him to lay her finger upon the ark of the 
covenant, He covered the harshness of his apparent refusal 
with the grace of a real concession to her wish. 

He had said the time was not yet come ; and therefore He 
waited until the wine was wholly exhausted. Then, on look- 
ing round, He perceived six water-pots of stone, each capable 
of containing two or three firkins, set hard by for the purpose 
of those ablutions which the Jews of that age were so frequent 
and scrupulous in performing. These were now empty, prob- 
ably from the ablutions of so many guests. These vessels our 
Lord directed to be filled with water ; and the servants, though 
wondering, did not venture to disobey Him, as his mother had 
hinted to them that they had better attend to any directions 
He might give. When this was done, He required them to 
draw it ; and then, as they perceived by the color and odor 
that it had become wine, they scrupled not to bear it to the 
governor of the feast. This personage, being one of the guests 
whose function it was to preside at the table for the purpose 
of maintaining order, of enlivening the festivities, and of reliev- 
ing the bridegroom from minute solicitudes, counted it among 
his duties to taste, for approval, any fresh lot of wine that 
might be produced for the use of the guests. Tasting this 
wine, he, not knowing whence it came, but finding it greatly 
superior to any that had yet been used, called out to the bride- 
oroom, in a tone of jocund raillery, across the table, " Every 
man at the beginning doth set forth good wine ; and when 
men have well drunk, then that which is worse ; but thou 
hast kept the good wine until now." 

These words rendered the evidence of the miracle complete. 
First, the vessels used were such as were standing by for ordi- 
nary purposes, precluding any idea of collusion ; then they 



204 THIRTY-THIRD WEEK — THURSDAY. 

were not wine-vessels but water-pots, so that it could not be 
suggested that there was some sediment of wine remaining in 
them, which gave a flavor to the water poured in. forming a 
kind of thin wine or tolerable negus, which might pass at the 
end of the feast ; then there is the intervention of the servants 
in filling vessels, but for which it might have appeared, as it 
did in fact appear to the ruler of the feast, that the wine had 
come from some unexpected quarter ; lastly, there is the evi- 
dence of the symposiarch, or, " ruler of the feast," who, know- 
ing nothing of the history of this wine, pronounces upon it that 
it is not only real wine, but good wine — better wine than had 
yet been produced at the feast. Nothing can be more com- 
plete ; and, for convincing evidence in demonstration of miracles, 
there could scarcely be a better miracle than this. The keenest 
eye can discover no flaw in it. 



THIRTY-THIRD WEEK— THURSDAY. 

THE TRADERS DRIVEN FROM THE TEMPLE. JOHN II. 13-22. 

John is the only one of the evangelists who relates this mira- 
cle at Cana of Galilee ; and he goes on to state that " after 
this He [Jesus] went down to Capernaum, He and his mother, 
and his brethern, and his disciples ;" that is to say, all the party 
connected with Him, by natural or religious ties, which had 
been present at Cana. Of Capernaum we may find another oc- 
casion to speak ; and it will at present suffice to state that it 
seems to have stood on the north-west shore of the Lake of 
Tiberias, about twenty-five miles north-west from Cana. This 
place afterwards became our Lord's usual residence, so far as 
He can be said to have had any fixed abode ; but his stay there 
was, on the present occasion, very short, owing to the ap- 
proach of the Passover, which He purposed to attend. The 
reason of his going so much out of his direct way for so short 
a visit is not easily seen, unless He had always made this place 



THE TRADERS DRIVEN FROM THE TEMPLE. 205 

his home, or unless some of his disciples, residing in this quarter, 
had returned to their homes, while He and the others had pro- 
ceeded to Cana, and that He had appointed to be joined by 
them here, before going together to Jerusalem. That the 
mother and brethern of Jesus went thither also, instead of going 
back to Nazareth (which, however, they may have all done in- 
termediately), suggests that they also meant to attend the Pass- 
over, and wished to do so in his company, — not only because 
they had been used to do so in former years, but because they 
might wish to observe his proceedings, now that He had mani- 
festly reached the turning-point in a career which had so long 
been a mysterious expectation to them. 

The visit to Jerusalem at this Passover is not recorded by 
any other evangelist than John ; and it is remarkable that the 
memorable incident which he connects with it is the same 
which the other evangelists assign to the last Passover our 
Lord attended. This was driving the traders out of the temple. 
We have, therefore, to suppose that He did this on two differ- 
ent occasions. Nor is there any difficulty in this supposition ; 
for as we find Him repeating, at different times and to different 
audiences, the. same sayings and discourses, there is no reason 
why the same significant and symbolically instructive action 
should not be repeated at a distant interval of time — the repe- 
tition giving intensity to the meaning. If, however, this inci- 
dent happened only once (and no one of the gospels records it 
twice), we must assume that either John or the other evange- 
lists relate it out of the chronological order. This is less pos- 
sible of the others than of John, whose narrative is all of a 
piece ; and therefore, if we had to choose, we should prefer to 
ascribe it to the first Passover, as he does. But we really see 
no difficulty in the repetition of the act, comparable to that 
which would arise from supposing that some of the evangelists 
ascribe to one Passover what belonged to another : and that 
some of the other evangelists record this as having also hap- 
pened at the first Passover, is sufficiently explained by the fact 
that the visit to Jerusalem at this Passover : is entered in their 
records. 



206 THIRTY-THIRD WEEK THURSDAY. 

During the feast at Jerusalem, and in presence of the multi- 
tudes there assembled from all quarters, Jesus openly stood 
forth, in the exercise of his high ministry, and attested his mis- 
sion by various miracles. These are not particularly recorded, 
but were doubtless of the same character as those which we 
afterwards find him performing — healing sundry kinds of dis- 
eases by his mere word. He had, therefore, already acquired 
.1 general reputation in the city as " a teacher sent from God ;" 
rf not, as the more enlightened might conjecture, something 
more than that, when He cleared the temple of the traffickers 
who encumbered its sacred courts. 

For the convenience of the Jews who repaired to Jerusalem 
from a distance, and wished to offer sacrifices, the usage had 
grown up of allowing booths to be set up and stalls kept in the 
temple courts, where everything requisite for the purpose might 
be had ; and as the Lalf-shekel tribute to the temple, due from 
every adult male, and which was usually paid at this time, 
could only be received in Jewish money, the worshippers need- 
ed to exchange for it the Greek and Roman coins which were 
in general circulation, for which purpose the money-changers also 
were permitted to pitch their tables in the temple courts. These 
courts were thus made no bad emblem of the then existing 
state of the Hebrew theocracy. For although the custom had, 
in its origin, the excuse of public convenience, and the traffic 
had at first been conducted with that subdued decorum which 
the sacred place exacted, yet, from the progressing corruptions 
of the people, many foul indecorums had crept in ; and the 
merchants and brokers, *with the eager cupidity which had al- 
ready become their characteristic, soon made everything sub 
servient to their avarice ; and their noisy toutings and keen 
huckstering not only defiled the sacred courts, but greatly dis- 
turbed those who came to worship at the temple. 

It was part of the ministry which Christ had undertaken, 
to denounce the corruptions of the secularized theocracy, and 
to declare judgment against them ; and as the general dese- 
cration of all that was holy was aptly represented by these 
profane doings in the temple, He first of all manifested against 



THE TRADERS DRIVEN FROM THE TEMPLE. 207 

them his holy anger. Threatening the traders with a scourge 
of small cords that He had provided, He drove them before 
Him out of the temple ; the tables of the more tardy money- 
changers he overturned ; and to those that sold doves He said, 
" Take these things hence : make not my Father's house an 
house of merchandise." 

Let it not be thought that it was the arm of a single man 
against many, or the dread of his whip of small cords, that 
caused the traffickers to withdraw in haste from the temple. 
It was the Divine indignation that flashed from eyes usually 
so full of love and pity ; it was the strong language (of which 
there was more, probably, than is written) with which He 
denounced their wickedness ; it was from the belief that He 
acted under a prophetic mission, and beheld in his uplifted 
scourge a symbol, after the manner of the old prophets, of 
judgments to come, which their consciences, smitten and roused 
by his acts and words, told them they had well deserved. 

No miracle is claimed in all this. It was not needed. But 
let those who question the possibility of such a transaction call 
to mind what is often seen in this country — that a single officer 
of the law, strong only in the consciousness of right and duty, 
confronting and dispersing before him a mischievous or excited 
rabble, weak only in the consciousness of wrong-doing. But 
it may be said, that this is a public officer ; whereas Jesus was 
only a private man in the view of these people. Not so. He 
was already regarded as a prophet, or one who claimed to be 
such. That character gave authority to his act in their eyes ; 
for they felt it was an act suited to that character, and such as 
might have been expected from some of the ancient prophets. 

The priests, who felt bound to take notice of a transaction 
so distinctly involved in their jurisdiction, and whose profits 
from allowing the traders to establish themselves in the temple 
courts interested them in the maintenance of the existing usage 
— even they, when they came to question Jesus, did not deny 
his authority to act as He had done, in case He were a prophet ; 
but they required Him to give more distinct proof than He had 



208 THIRTY-THIRD WEEK — FRIDAY. 

hitherto afforded of the prophetic mission, which could alone 
justify Him in taking such authority upon him. 

His answer to this demand was at once a reproof and a 
prophecy : " Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise 
it up." He meant, as St. John assures us, " the temple of his 
body ;" and spoke prophetically of his resurrection from the 
dead, which would be a proof of a Divine mission such as no 
saint or prophet ever gave. He doubtless laid his hand upon 
his breast as He spoke. That body, in which the Godhead 
yisibly dwelt, was a temple holier than that at Jerusalem. 
This temple they would destroy, and lay it in the dust ; yet 
in three days w 7 ould He himself, by his own power, raise it up, 
in all, or more than all, its former strength and beauty. It was 
a glorious parable, which it is not surprising that they did not 
comprehend ; for John himself frankly confesses that the dis 
ciples themselves did not understand it till after the resurrec- 
tion, which is indeed true of many other things that they had 
heard their Lord utter. 



THIRTY-THIRD WEEK.— FRIDAY. 

herod's TEMPLE. JOHN II. 20. 

The declaration of the Jews, " Forty and six years was this 
temple in building," may seem to need some explanation ; for 
we all know that the temple reared by the Jews after their 
return from the Exile — that is, the second temple — was com- 
pleted in twenty-one years. Was, then, the temple which 
existed in our Lord's time a different temple ? Essentially it 
was ; although, from the manner of its construction, it was 
formally regarded as the second temple, or as representing it. 

The temple in which our Lord taught was substantially the 
work of Herod the Great. 

This Herod was a very lax Jew ; in fact, he was more than 
naif a heathen. Or it might be more precise, if not more 
correct, to say, that he was one of those who could not sympa 



HEROD S TEMPLE 209 

thize in the feeling which made the Jews desirous to maintain 
themselves in the condition of a separate people ; and which, 
indeed, had in his time risen, among the stricter sort, to a most 
arrogant pride in their own privileged state, and a most offen- 
sive and openly avowed abhorrence and scorn of all other 
nations. This fretted the mind of Herod, as it formed a stub- 
born barrier to many of his designs ; for he mingled freely 
with Greeks and Romans, liked their manners, admired their 
institutions, and even looked upon their idolatry without re- 
pugnance. Hence he desired to assimilate the habits and cus- 
toms of his subjects to theirs; and was continually irritated 
by the stubborn opposition he met with, and the odium which, 
on this account among others, he knew that he had incurred. 

Herod was a man of magnificent tastes, and had a passion 
for building. Some towns were founded by him, and others 
restored or improved on a scale of great magnificence. He 
enriched Jerusalem and other towns with fine structures : he 
built palaces, he erected towers, he constructed moles on the 
coast, he established strong fortresses. All this afforded no 
ground of offence ; but, to the horror of the people, he did not 
hesitate to build temples for idolatrous worship in places where 
the inhabitants were principally, or in a large measure, hea- 
thens. Scarcely less odious to them, and more effectively re- 
sisted, was his attempt to introduce into their cities the savage 
games of the amphitheatre, which were congenial to his own 
hard and cruel temper, but which were to his people most 
hateful, both on religious and social grounds ; and although 
he did build some amphitheatres, he could not bring the peo- 
ple in properly Jewish cities, least of all in Jerusalem, to toler- 
ate the use of them. 

Becoming at last sensible of the dislike to him which such 
proceedings, added to the severities of his government, had 
engendered in the minds of the people, he sought for measures 
which might conciliate them ; and he found one measure, 
not only calculated to have this effect, but at the same 
time to gratify his own prevailing taste, and perpetuate, as he 
thought, the glory of his name as another Solomon ; and it 



210 THIRTY-THIRD WEEK FRIDAY. 

must be admitted that in many points his character did resem- 
ble that of Solomon — wisdom excepted. 

His purpose was to rebuild the Temple, on a scale of mag- 
nificence, rivaling, if not eclipsing, that of Solomon. The 
sacred edifice had fallen into sad decay, not only from the 
ravages of time, but from what it had suffered from the hands 
of enemies; for that part of Jerusalem, being by far the 
strongest, had been the last resort of the inhabitants in times 
of peril, and therefore the spot against which the most exas- 
perated assaults had been directed. 

The Jews, however, though charmed by the prospect which 
the king . held out, and aware that the project was one which 
he, if only from mere pride, would be likely to carry out, were 
afraid to trust him implicitly, and they were not without ap- 
prehensions that, after having deprived them of what they 
already had, he might withhold what he had led them to 
expect. It was all peace and prosperity now ; but troubles 
might arise, the inevitable expenses of which might render 
Herod, lavish as he was, and possibly all the more for being 
lavish, unwilling or unable to accomplish what he had under- 
taken. To meet this apprehension, Herod, who for the various 
reasons at which we have hinted, was really solicitous in this 
matter, undertook that he would not disturb the old building 
until he had made every preparation for the new. This prep- 
aration took two full years. Josephus declares that a thousand 
wagons were employed during that time in conveying the 
stones and timber, that ten thousand artificers fitted all things 
for the building, and that one thousand priests, who were 
skilled in architecture, oversaw and directed the works. This 
last is a very remarkable fact, illustrative and confirmatory of 
the general impression, that the great Levitical body employed 
their abundant leisure largely in the cultivation of the higher 
branches of learning, science, and art, law, medicine, architec- 
ture, constituting them, in fact, the professionally learned body 
of the nation ; and, indeed, they were so numerous a body as 
to be well able to supply from themselves the members of all 
the professions which we call learned. After two years had 



HEROD S TEMPLE. 211 

thus been spent in preparation, the old temple was taken down, 
not all at once, as some state, but by degrees, as fast as the 
parts removed could be replaced by the new building, in the 
twenty -first year of his own reign, seventeen years before Christ, 
and therefore just forty -six before the first Passover of our 
Lord's ministry. It is true that the main body of the temple 
was finished, so as to be fit for Divine service in nine years and 
a half; yet a great number of workmen were still employed in 
carrying on the out-buildings during all the time of our Saviour's 
abode on earth, and even for some years after his death ; in 
fact, not until seven years before the temple was finally de- 
stroyed by the Romans, that is, in the year 64, when 18,000 
men being at once thrown out of employment, the local rulers, 
compassionating their destitute condition, and dreading the 
consequences of so large a body of men being at once thrown 
loose upon society, devised a plan for employing them in re- 
building the eastern cloisters, full wages being given them for 
merely nominal work. But this was put a stop to by king 
Agrippa, who, however, sanctioned the plan of employing 
these men in paving the streets of the city with white stone. 

This temple, which, as the frequent place of our Lord's 
ministry, is more interesting to us than even that of Solomon, 
was considerably larger than the temple built by the restored 
captives, as that had been larger than the first temple. The 
second temple (properly so called) was seventy cubits long, sixty 
cubits broad, and sixty high ; but this was one hundred cubits 
long, seventy broad, and one hundred high. The second tem- 
ple seems also not to have had the porch any higher than the 
rest of the building ; for Herod, in his proposal to the Jews, 
appeals to their knowledge of the fact that it wanted sixty 
cubits of the height of the first temple. But in this temple 
the porch was raised to 120 cubits, as at the first; and, by 
extending it fifteen cubits beyond each side of the body of the 
temple, he made the front to be a hundred cubits wide ; for 
twice fifteen added to seventy, which was the breadth of the 
temple itself, make a hundred. The ground-plan therefore 
resembled the letter T; the top jepresenting the front of the 



212 THIRTY-THIRD WEEK SATURDAY. 

porch, and the body of the letter the holy and the most holy 
places. 

All the Jewish writers extol this temple exceedingly, both 
for the beauty of the workmanship and the costliness of the 
materials ; for it was built with white marble, beautifully varie- 
gated, and with stones of large dimensions — some of them 
being not less than twenty-five cubits long, eight cubits high, 
and twelve cubits thick : explaining the admiration with which, 
on one occasion, our Lord's disciples called his attention to the 
great and goodly stones of the temple. "We cannot here enter 
further into details ; but the impression left upon our minds is, 
that Herod's temple was, considreed architecturally, a more 
perfect and magnificent work than that of Solomon, though 
much less lavishly adorned with precious metal. The taste 
for that species of ornamentation had passed by ; and it must 
be admitted that, in building, fine marble makes a more 
agreeable impression, better satisfies a correct taste, and is 
really more magnificent, than any amount of silver or gold. 



THIRTY-THIRD WEEK— SATURDAY. 

NIC0DEMUS. JOHN III. 

The new and startling style of our Lord's discourse during 
his first ministerial visit to Jerusalem, the miracles that He 
wrought, and the remarkable public act and assumption of 
high authority which have lately engaged our attention, made 
a strong impression upon some minds, and drew many people 
to Him. The Pharisees indeed eyed Him with suspicion, and 
doubted the tendency of his proceedings and teachings ; but 
as He had not yet declared himself against the cloud of tradi- 
tions in which they had enveloped and obscured the Judaism 
taught by Moses and enforced by the prophets, but had only 
denounced abuses which they could not but acknowledge, and 
were unable to vindicate, they dared not yet openly oppose 



NICODEMUS. 213 

Him. It would also be unjust, even to the Pharisees, to sup- 
pose that all were h) T pocrites, all governed by selfish motives. 
There were doubtless, among that powerful body, many whose 
piety was sincere, however debased and darkened by the errors 
of a corrupt system ; and such persons could not fail to 
receive some awakening impressions from the words and acts 
of Jesus. 

Such a Pharisee was Nicodemus, described as " a ruler of 
the Jews ;" by which we are not to understand a civil magis- 
trate, as the civil government was at this time in the hands 
of the Romans — but an ecclesiastical ruler. In other words, 
he was a member of the Sanhedrim — a council of seventy 
members, consisting of distinguished priests, Levites, doctors, 
or wise men, and elders of the people. To be a member of 
this dignified assembly was a high distinction, — and hence 
Nicodemus was a person of consequence, whom our Lord 
himself styles " a master in Israel." 

The Jewish writers make frequent mention of one Nicodemus 
the son of Gorion, who lived in this age, and was a member 
of the council — and some have thought this the same with our 
Nicodemus. The concurrence of name, time, and condition, 
are favorable to this conclusion. Nicodemus was renowned 
for his wealth ; and that Nicodemus was rich, is shown by*tho 
liberal provision of costly spices which he made for our Lord's 
burial. In fact, of Nicodemus it is said that he was one of 
the three richest men in Jerusalem, — so wealthy that he might 
have maintained a city at his own charge for ten years ; and 
was able to give his daughter a dowry of a million golden 
denarii. But he was afterwards reduced to a most low estate, 
and his daughter had to beg her bread, which, if he was the 
same with the present Nicodemus, would be sufficiently ex- 
plained by the persecutions which would be likely to befall so 
noted a person, when he at length openly avowed himself an 
adherent of Jesus. The name of " Nicodemus" is Greek ; and 
it was the custom of this age to have two names, one Greek 
or Latin, and the other native. It is said that the native name 
of Nicodemus was Boni, and it is on record that one Boni 



214 THIRTY-THIRD WEEK SATURDAY. 

became a disciple of Jesus. All these are curious coincidences; 
at least. But we do not press them, and the reader must take 
them for what it may seem to him they are worth. 

Nicodemus came to Jesus by night. This is generally sup- 
posed to have been because he was unwilling, without further 
inquiry, to commit himself, and increase the suspicions of the 
jealous body to which he belonged, by going in the day time. 
This is not, however, certain, for it is recorded just before — 
(John ii. 24, 25) — that Jesus kept himself aloof from personal 
intercourse with those whom his miracles had impressed, so 
that there might be no opportunity of gaining his attention 
but by visiting Him at night ; and if this was the night of the 
same day in which Nicodemus had seen our Lord's miracles, 
he could not well have had an earlier opportunity, and the 
intimation may thus rather be designed to express his impa- 
tient alacrity rather than his caution. To which it may be 
added, that it was very common with the Jewish doctors to 
meet together for conversation and the study of the law at 
night, and that to do this was considered highly commendable 
and meritorious. This at least shows that the procedure of 
this " master in Israel" was not in any way extraordinary. 

Having witnessed the miracles our Lord had wrought, 
Nicodemus had reached the conviction that He was invested 
with a Divine calling, but it does not appear that he had 
attained any clear views of Christ's person or mission ; and his 
desire to possess more distinct information, must have been the 
greater, from the expectations in regard to the approaching 
reign of the Messiah, which the ministrations of John had 
generally awakened. Of the nature of that reign Nicodemus 
probably shared the general notion of its temporal character, 
though he may at the same time have had some more worthy 
and spiritual ideas concerning it. It does not seem that he 
had any expectation that Jesus himself was the Messiah ; but 
beholding Him as a divinely commissioned prophet, he repaired 
to Him for more definite information on that great and inter- 
esting subject than he had yet been able to obtain. As a 
pious Jew and rigid Pharisee, he had no doubt of his share to 



NICODEMUS. 215 

the Messiah's kingdom, but he was most anxious to learn 
when and how it would be manifested. How great then was 
his astonishment to hear that, son of Abraham as he was— Jew 
as he was — Pharisee as he was — something more was needful 
before he or any one else could become a fit subject of the 
kingdom which the Messiah came to establish, or entitled to a 
share in its benefits ; and that the exaltation of the Messiah 
was to be of a far different sort than he had thought — a lifting 
up (upon the cross) in suffering and death, that whosoever 
looked believingly to Him, as when Moses lifted up the serpent 
in the wilderness, should not perish, but have everlasting life. 

The conversation with Nicodemus is one of the most 
memorable pages in the Gospel, and differs in an essential 
particular from the other teachings of Christ. In addressing 
a well-instructed man — a doctor of the law — Jesus uses a 
language conformable to the state of mind and knowledge of 
his new disciple ; and it is difficult to seize the prevailing idea 
without some knowledge of the principles and prejudices of 
the Jewish theology of that age. The Jews believed that a 
heathen who became a proselyte, passed through a new birth, 
and, by being thus new born, cast into oblivion his antecedent 
connections and relatives in life, — and this so literally and 
effectively, that he might espouse his own mother or sister 
without offence. The idea and name of a new birth was, 
therefore, familiar to the Jews ; but under a gross and literal 
apprehension, which was at one time in danger of creeping into 
the Christian church, and which Paul so forcibly condemns in 
the Epistles to the Corinthians.* The astonishment which 
Nicodemus expressed was, therefore, not at the idea of a new 
birth in itself, but at the notion that he, as a Jew, should need 
any such transition in becoming a disciple of Christ. This 
was so strange and incredible, that he thought he must have 
misunderstood, and rather fell back upon the absurdity of a 
natural regeneration, facilitated perhaps more to him than to 
us, by the general belief in a sort of transmigration of souls. 
Hence his questions — " How can a man be born when he is 
* 1 Cor. v. 1 ; 2 Cor. ii. 



216 THIRTY-FOURTH WEEK — SUNDAY. 

old ?" etc. " How can these things be V In answei to which 
Jesus, in words full of Divine power, disclosed to him the 
spiritual nature of the kingdom He designed to establish, the 
essential regenerating change that must pass over those who 
become the subjects of that kingdom ; and, in conclusion, He 
declared with emphasis the real end and purpose of his coming ; 
and even went so far as to indicate the very form of that death 
He was to suffer for man's sake. There were designedly many 
things in this that Nicodemus could not thoroughly under- 
stand till a future day; but he pondered them well; and 
when that day, yet future, came, he remembered and under- 
stood them. 



JESUS AND JOHN. JOHN III. 22-36. 

When our Lord withdrew from Jerusalem He did not 
hasten back into Galilee, but remained in Judea, and at length 
proceeded to the Jordan, where He began to baptize. This 
seemed to common apprehension to bring Him into direct 
rivalry with John, who was then actually baptizing at another 
station on the river, higher up, at JEnon, near to Salim. John's 
disciples, jealous for their master's credit, hastened to tell him 
of this ; and the terms in which they did so, intimate that the 
baptism of John had become comparatively forsaken for that 
of Jesus. They said : " He that was with thee beyond Jordan, 
and to whom thou barest witness, behold, the same baptizeth, 
and all men come unto Him." They spoke as those not only 
jealous for their master, but as feeling their own consequence 
as his adherents affected by the higher popularity which the 
new teacher had already acquired. The principle on which all 
this is founded, lies deep in human nature. Jealousy of a 
rival's fame and success is constantly seen in the world, through 
every path of life, and not only inflicts great anguish upon the 
proud fleshly mind, but has often led to deeds of great black- 



JESUS AND JOHN. 217 

ness and dishonor. The religion of Jesus enjoined the entire 
prostration of this common feeling; and the man whose mind 
is thoroughly saturated with its holy influences, will be content, 
while he knows that his record is on high, and that his Lord's 
honor and the good of souls have been his only aims, to lie 
humbly in the dust, neglected and forgotten of men, and to 
regard not only without repining or dislike those who have 
outstript him or outshone him in his own paths of honor and 
usefulness, but to rejoice in their success, and to cheer on with 
sympathizing shouts those who have taken from his own hands 
the sword of warfare and the palm of triumph. 

John was not a Christian. But no one, however fully in- 
structed in the things of Christ, did ever more strongly 01 
loyally evince this self-abnegation in a matter where the pride 
of man is most quick and tender. It is quite refreshing to 
contrast his tone with that of his disciples. The manner in 
which they speak of Jesus is manifestly bitter, if not contemp- 
tuous, as if He was laboring to supplant in the public favor 
the man who had introduced Him to it, and as if He had been 
but too successful in his art. 

Nothing ever uttered by man, under any like circumstances, 
can be finer than was John's answer, which, without a word 
of direct reproof, must in its effect, and by its contrast, have 
been felt as a severe rebuke by the complaining disciples. He 
called to their minds that he had always declared that he was 
not the Christ, but was sent before Him to prepare the way for 
Him. He beautifully compared himself to the paranymph, or 
friend of the bridegroom, who, although he had not himself 
the bride, stood by rejoicing greatly in the happiness of his 
friend. " This is my joy," he said, " this my joy, therefore is 
fulfilled." And then he added with a cheerful satisfaction 
which reaches to the sublime of moral grandeur — " He must 
increase, but I must decrease." 

See here how freely he admits and acquiesces in the fact of 
his own decline ; and consider how unwilling men are to admit 
any idea of the kind, and how earnestly they repel it when 
hinted by others, as the suggestion of malice or ignorance. 

VOL. III. 10 



218 THIRTY-FOURTH WEEK SUNDAY. 

Many can better endure the idea of death than of such 
degradation, and will welcome it, if it saves them from public 
neglect But John admits it frankly, and with a clear per- 
ception of all that it involved. It involved the decline of his 
fame. To some minds popularity is the most gratifying of all 
attainments, and John had gained it in a high degree. He 
had seen multitudes flocking to him from all quarters ; he had 
received a dignified deputation from the great ecclesiastical 
council of the nation to ask if he were the Messiah. But few 
were now to approach him ; and the very qualities which had 
no doubt aided in establishing his reputation, now furnished 
ground for calumny ; for we learn from the subsequent testi- 
mony of our Saviour, that men said of John, " he hath a devil," 
seeing that he came " neither eating nor drinking," nor taking 
part in the social gladnesses of common life. This change, 
which the most patient of men regarded as the bitterest drop 
in the cup he had to drink, was viewed by John with a cheer- 
ful and steady countenance. It in nowise moved him. That 
" He must increase" was to him an abundant satisfaction and 
compensation for " I must decrease." It was what he desired ; 
he would not, if he could, have had it otherwise ; and this, be 
it remembered, came not upon him at a time when age was 
unfitting him for the exertions and enfeebling the powers 
which had once produced so great an excitement; but when 
every faculty was in its prime, and when he was more than 
ever worthy of the public esteem. 

John had further in view the remediless decline not only of 
his popularity but of his influence ; this had once been most 
extensive and salutary. His earnest voice had awed multi- 
tudes into seriousness, and had brought the most audacious 
sinners to his feet, crying, " What shall we do ?" Even the 
profligate tetrarch of Galilee heard him gladly, and did many 
things in compliance with his calls. But all this was in a 
great measure to pass away. Few came to listen to him ; and 
of the obduracy and indifference of many who had once 
seemed impressed by his teaching, there were many painful 
indications. This might naturally excite an unpleasant feeling 



JESUS AND JOHN. 219 

for the moment even in mYmind ; but all this was speedily 
swallowed up in the overpowering thought, " He must increase," 
must establish an influence boundlessly more effectual and 
permanent than his, to which the fiercest prejudices, and even 
hearts of stone, must yield, and which would in due time be 
felt "from sea to sea, and from the river to the ends of the 
earth." 

John may also be regarded as speaking not only in view of 
this loss of fame and influence, but as contemplating the actual 
close of his ministry, and perhaps of his life. The purposes 
for which he had been raised up had been accomplished ; and 
feeling that his task was done, he might have felt or known 
that he must soon go hence. No intimation had been given 
of any other service for him than that to which his views had 
even from his earliest years been directed, and he expected no 
other. But he contemplated all this in the prime and vigor 
of his days without a sigh, not because he was weary of life 
and of life's labors, or because the world had seemed to have 
lost all interest in him ; but because he knew that his place 
would be supplied by that " One greater than he," to whom 
the Spirit had not, as to himself, been given " by measure ;" 
who was not, as himself, "of the earth," and therefore 
"earthy;" but One who was "from above," and therefore 
"above all." 

This willing renunciation of all that the worldly mind holds 
dear for the furtherance of the kingdom of God — this readiness 
to render honor to whom honor was due, even though he 
thereby became nothing, is an eternal renown to the memory 
and name of John, and a glorious example to all " the chil- 
dren of the kingdom." 

" He saw Jesus able to loose every evil, to unfold every 
mystery, to detect every snare, to brighten every darkness, to 
guide into all truth, and to form to all goodness, and to no 
hands could he leave the concerns of religion, and the spiritual 
interests of those to whom he had ministered, but in those of 
Christ. In the splendor of his grace and truth John was 
happy to be darkened, and in such fame he was content to be 



°20 THIRTY-FOURTH WEEK MONDAY. 

forgotten. Had his honors been ten thousand times brighter 
than they were, he would have laid them all at Christ's feet. 
.John in his ministry was not like the evening star, sinking into 
the darkness of night, but like the morning star lost to our 
view in the brightness of day. And he chose wisely for him- 
self; for thus retiring, he has secured a fame brighter than the 
applause of multitudes could have given, and he is now in 
possession of an honor which can never be diminished."* 



THIRTY-FOURTH WEEK— MONDAY. 

HEROD AND HERODIAS. 
MATT. XIV. 1-4; MARK I. 14; VI. 17-20. 

A few months after the circumstances which engaged our 
attention last evening, John the Baptist was cast into prison 
by Herod the tetrarch, or, as he was commonly called, " the 
king" of Galilee. 

This is the same Herod who had succeeded to the tetrarchy 
after the death of Herod the Great, and who therefore had, 
during nearly the whole of our Lord's lifetime, been prince of 
the country to which He belonged. This Herod, surnamed 
Antipas, inherited the vices but not the talents of his father, 
though he manifested considerable address in preventing or 
suppressing popular commotions in his dominions. 

Herod had long been married to the daughter of Aretas, 
king of Arabia— that is, of the Arabian district bordering on 
Syria, and lying beyond Herod's own territories east of the 
Jordan — for his tetrarchy comprehended not only Galilee but 
Perea beyond that river. But on a journey which Herod took 
to Rome to pay his court to the emperor, he visited Herod- 
Philip, his brother by the father's side, who was married to 

* Belfrage's Portrait of John the Baptist. Edinburgh : Oliphant. 
1836. A work in which the view embodied in this evening's reading 
is more fully and very eloquently wrought out. 



HEROD AND HERODIAS. 221 

Herodias, who was the sister of both by the father's side. 
These three persons then stood in this relation to each other — 
that they were all children of the same father by different 
mothers. Herodias, though past her youth, was a very charm- 
ing, but unscrupulous and ambitious woman. Herod was 
smitten with her beauty and winning manners, and availed 
himself of the freedom of access which his near relationship 
afforded, to endeavor to alienate her from her husband, his 
brother, and to gain her for himself. He was probably met 
half-way — for Herodias was weary of the comparatively ob- 
scure and private life she led with her husband, and longed to 
move in the greatly superior sphere to which Herod could 
raise her. It was agreed then between them that he should 
make her his wife when he returned from Rome. To be sure, 
they were both already married ; but this was no insuperable 
obstacle to persons who, like most of the Herodian family, 
were accustomed to make all considerations of right or propri- 
ety bend to their own inclinations. It was therefore agreed 
that Herod should divorce his wife. This he might do without 
any material public scandal — as the practice of divorcing a 
wife for any cause, or without any cause, had become very 
common in that age, and was strongly rebuked by our Saviour. 
Herodias also agreed to divorce her husband. This was a 
public scandal ; being wholly alien to the ideas and habits of 
the Jews — especially as the existing marriage had not been 
fruitless. The highest classes had, however, borrowed this 
practice from the Romans, with whom they had much inter- 
course ; and they sometimes assumed the same license, though 
their example could never reconcile the public mind to it. 

Before Herod returned, this conspiracy against her happi- 
ness came to the ears of his wife, who thereupon fled to hei 
father. This step was probably not unpleasant to Herod, who, 
on his return, made Herodias his wife. 

The proceeding was, however, altogether abhorrent to public 
opinion, which even Herodian tyrants do not deem it safe to 
disregard. Herod therefore felt uneasy, and sent for John the 
Baptist, in the expectation that if he could obtain his sanction 



222 THIRTY-FOURTH WEEK — MONDAY. 

for what had been done, the people, who, as the king knew 
held the prophet in great respect, would be satisfied. But if 
Herod hoped to win or overawe John into a favorable opinion 
of his conduct, he was grievously mistaken. He had to do 
with one who feared not the face of man, and whom kings 
were powerless to turn one hair's breadth from the line of truth 
and duty. He said plainly, " It is not lawful for thee to have 
her;" and for that saying he was cast into prison. 

Herod himself, perhaps — who had as much respect for John 
as so bad a man could have — might have passed it over. But 
Herodias, who was in the highest degree exasperated at this 
adverse declaration from one whose word had so much weight 
with the people, craved his destruction ; and her influence was 
at this time so powerful with her companion in guilt, that she 
would probably have prevailed upon him to slay the prophet, 
but for the salutary fear which he entertained of the effect 
which a deed so atrocious might produce among the people. 
He did, however, cast him into prison ; and there he remained 
until the watchful vengance of Herodias succeeded in accom 
plishing his destruction. 

Every one in perusing this narrative feels that he understands 
why it was not lawful for Herod to have Herodias. Yet the 
question has been raised, on what ground John declared this 
marriage to be unlawful. This, however, it does not seem diffi- 
cult to find. We must understand that " unlawful" means, 
contrary to the letter or spirit of the law of Moses; and 
certainly this deed involved more than one transgression of 
that law. 

In the first place, it was unlawful for a man to marry one 
who was his sister even by one parent only. This, indeed, 
equally applies to the first marriage ; but that did not make 
the analogous second marriage more lawful. Then the divorce 
of her husband by Herodias was unlawful, and therefore void ; 
and such being the case, the marriage contracted immediately 
after, while the husband still lived, was void, and Herod and 
Herodias were living in a state of adultery together. Had 
Herodias not been the sister of Herod ; had her husband been 



UEItOD AND HERODIAS. 223 

dead ; and had there been no issue by that marriage, it might 
not only have been lawful but obligatory on Herod to marry 
Herodias. For the law required that when a man died child- 
less, his brother should take his widow, in order that the first- 
born child of this union should be counted as the child and 
heir of the deceased brother. But none of these conditions ex- 
isted here. Herodias was the sister of Herod — and that by 
the father's side — which was held to constitute a nearer relation- 
ship than by the mother's side only ; her husband was living ; 
and there had been issue by the marriage — in the person of 
that damsel whose dancing subsequently cost John the Bap- 
tist his head. If Philip had been dead, and if he had died child- 
less (which would have created an obligation upon Herod in 
any other case), it would still have been " unlawful" for Herod 
to have taken Herodias, because she was his sister. 

It therefore seems to us that the reasons why it was not law- 
ful for Herod to have Herodias are, that she was his sister, and 
that she was the wife of a man still living — and this man was 
his own brother — which, however it may have affected the 
legal bearings of the question, was certainly a strong aggrava- 
tion of the moral enormity of the transaction. The Jewish 
writers who speak of this marriage, always do so with repre- 
hension, making the culpability rest either upon the fact that 
Herodias was his own sister, or upon that of her being the 
wife of Herod's still-living brother ; and Josephus seems to in- 
clude the woman's divorce of her husband along with this, 
when he describes the whole transaction as " confounding the 
laws of the country" — a strong expression on his part of its un- 
lawfulness. The crime was twofold — that of adultery and in- 
cest — and therefore doubly " unlawful." 

We shall ere long have to witness the result. 



224 THIRTY-FOURTH WEEK TUESDAY. 

THIRTY-FOURTH WEEK— TUESDAY. 

THE SAMARITANS. JOHN IV. 4. 

After a long absence in Judea of about eight months, Jesus 
set out on his return into Galilee. This must have been in the 
month of November, or early in December. Various reasons 
have been assigned for this movement. Some conjecture that 
it was from having heard of John's imprisonment ; but it does 
not appear that there could be anything in this to affect his 
proceedings, seeing for what special cause John was cast into 
prison ; and the prudence which some find in this step, would 
have dictated some other course than a journey into the very 
heart of Herod's territories. Some more seasonably conjecture, 
that the Pharisees had become decidedly hostile to Jesus when 
they found that his preaching was attracting even more atten- 
tion than that of John ; and that He now began to speak with 
severity of the hypocrisies and solemn shams, of which they 
were in that age the chief upholders, — so that He resolved 
to retire from that part of the country, and proceed to Galilee, 
which not only offered Him a safe abode, as the Pharisees 
were not numerous in that quarter, but presented a fair field 
for his labors. 

There may be something in this. But it seems to us that 
a sufficient explanation may he found in the approach of winter, 
unfavorable to the open-air gatherings in town and countr}, to 
to which He had hitherto ministered, and which would na- 
turally induce Him to return to what had previously been his 
usual abode. And, in fact, we commonly find Him in the 
winter in Galilee, chiefly at Capernaum, where He had a fixed 
residence, probably a hired house. 

There were three routes in use for this journey. One by 
crossing the Jordan near Jericho, and travelling northward 
through the eastern region (Perea), recrossing the river into 
Galilee a little below the lake of Tiberias. Another route was 
along the sea-coast, and through the plain of Esdraelon. The 
shortest and most direct road was by way of Shechem, through 



THE SAMARITANS. 225 

the country of the Samaritans, which was interposed between 
Judea and Galilee. Very rigid Jews, especially those of the 
sect of Pharisees, shunned this route from their abhorrence of 
the Samaritans; from the fear of pollution by intercourse with 
a people whom they accounted as even viler than the heathen ; 
and in order to avoid the insults and inconveniences with 
which the Samaritans retaliated the contempt with which they 
were regarded. Jesus, however, made choice of this route. 
Being the nearest, He would not be likely to avoid it for any 
of the reasons stated ; and opportunity could not fail to offer, 
as He passed, to sow the good seed among a people better 
prepared to receive Him, in many respects, than were the 
mass of the Jews themselves; because, while they, equally 
with the Jews, expected the speedy advent of the Messiah, 
their notions of his reign were less perverted by political ideas 
than among the Jews. But we shall not understand the na- 
ture of our Lord's intercourse with the Samaritans in this 
journey, unless we pay some attention to their condition and 
opinions. 

They derived their name from their being placed in the re- 
gion of which Samaria had been the metropolis. Their own 
chief seat in that district was not, however, at Samaria, but at 
Shechem (in our Lord's time called Sychar), in the beautiful 
valley between the mountains of Ebal and Gerizim. Origin- 
ally they were foreigners from beyond the Euphrates, settled 
here by the kings of Assyria, after they had destroyed the 
kingdom, of Israel and sent the ten tribes into captivity, in 
order to keep the country from utter desolation. They were 
of course idolaters ; but finding that the beasts of prey in- 
creased rapidly in a country now so depopulated, they ascribed 
this to the wrath of the gods of the country for neglected rites ; 
and they petitioned the imperial court to send them an Israel- 
itish priest, who might teach them how to worship these 
gods, so as to avert their anger. Having obtained what they 
sought, they soon made up a curious religion of their own, 
combining the worship of their native idols with the worship 
of Jehovah. The idolatrous taint, however, became gradually 

10* 



226 THIRTY-FOURTH WEEK TUESDAY. 

diluted, and eventually disappeared; and the Samaritans be- 
came good Jews, professing, in those latter times in which 
our Lord appeared, a more primitive and better form of Juda- 
ism than generally prevailed among the Jews themselves. 
The reason of this was, that they retained the Judaism which 
they had been taught in a comparatively early age, and adhered 
with scrupulous exactness to the simple sense of the law of 
Moses ; while among the Jews themselves the plain letter of 
the law had become encumbered, and indeed overwhelmed, 
by a dense heap of traditionary interpretations and applica- 
tions, which were held to be of equal authority with the law 
itself, and which, in the time of our Saviour, constituted, as He 
himself declares, a burden too heavy to be borne. From all 
this the Judaism of the Samaritans was free ; they rejected, or 
rather ignored, these traditions ; and the dislike and contempt 
of the Jews towards them was in no small degree enhanced by 
their want of, and disregard for, the learned rubbish which in 
their view constituted the perfection of the law. It was no 
doubt the slighting language with which our Lord spoke of 
these traditions, that gave point to the vituperation on one oc- 
casion used against Him : " Thou art a Samaritan, and hast a 
devil ;" which was intended to be the severest, the most venom- 
ous, the most contemptuous thing that could possibly be said. 

The root of the intense hatred between the two, lay in the 
contempt which the Jews, in the pride of their pure Abrahamic 
descent, showered upon the Samaritans as an inferior and ig- 
noble people ; and in the earnestness with which they with- 
stood the attempt at amalgamation originally made by the 
Samaritans, and the earnest vehemence with which they re- 
fused to admit them to community of worship and religious 
privileges. 

As the Samaritans became more Jewish, they became 
ashamed of that foreign and heathen origin which the Jews 
never forgot, nor ever failed to cast in their teeth ; and in pro- 
cess of time they advanced a claim to be regarded as of Abra- 
hamic origin. This claim was derided by the Jews ; but there 
was nevertheless some foundation for it. They bad largely 



THE SAMARITANS. 227 

intermarried with the Jews. At first with the thin and scat- 
tered remnants of the ten tribes that remained in the land of 
Israel ; then with the like remnant of the kingdom of Jndah ; 
and later with the captives who returned from Babylon. This, 
in process of time, threw a strong infusion of Jewish blood into 
the Samaritan body ; and in the admixture, there is reason to 
suppose that the Jewish predominated over the foreign element. 
Such intermarriages had, however, long since ceased, and 
nothing could be more abhorrent either to Jew or Samaritan, 
— for the latter, repelled at every point by the Jews, learned 
to repay their dislike in full measure ; for it is not less true 
that hate engenders hate, than that love begets love. 

Repelled with vehemence from any participation in the re- 
building of the temple after the captivity, and refused any 
equal right or interest in the services there celebrated, they at 
length concluded to have a sacerdotal establishment of their 
own. They erected a temple upon Mount Gerizim — the moun- 
tain from which the blessings of the law were delivered, when 
the Israelites first entered the Promised Land, and whereon 
Moses had set up an altar. From this they were led to deny 
that Jerusalem was the proper site of the temple, and that 
Mount Gerizim having thus been indicated by the great law- 
giver himself, was the place where men ought to worship. 
This, as much as any other point of difference — if not more 
than any other — was a source of keen and bitter antagonism 
between them ; and Jews, passing through the country at the 
great festivals, avowedly to worship at Jerusalem, were subject 
to so much annoyance and insult from the Samaritans, that 
such as could well do it journeyed by one of the more circuitous 
routes which have been indicated. At other times, travelling 
through Samaria, especially from Jerusalem, was not commonly 
subject to any other inconvenience than such as arose from the 
alienation and non-intercourse. For no Samaritan would re- 
ceive a Jew, or a Jew receive a Samaritan into his house, or 
bid him God speed. They might buy of, or sell to, each other ; 
but beyond the communication which such transactions in* 



228 THIRTY-FOURTH WEEK WEDNESDAY. 

volved, all intercourse was on both sides considered unbecom 
ing and improper. 

It was a strange condition of affairs that the territory of a 
people, thus disliking and disliked, should occupy the very 
heart of the country, and be interposed between the two great 
territorial sections of the Jewish population. The distance — 
greater in reality than in mere length of road — thus interposed 
between the Jews of the south and north, probably contributed 
in no faint degree to the sort of alienation which existed be- 
tween them also. For the Jew of the south, or of Judea, de- 
spised the inhabitants of Galilee, only some degrees less than 
he despised the Samaritans. 



THIRTY-FOURTH WEEK.— WEDNESDAY. 

THE WOMAN OF SAMARIA. JOHN IV. 5-42. 

We know that Shechem, which had now become the chief 
city of the Samaritans, was a nourishing town so early as the 
time of Jacob, who encamped for some time in the neighbor- 
hood on his prosperous return from Padan-Aram. On the 
site of his encampment he left a well, which was thenceforth 
called " Jacob's well," but whether as having been digged by 
him for the service of his camp, or from his use of it, having 
purposely encamped where he found a well existing, is thought 
uncertain. We apprehend the former to be the case, how- 
ever. If a well already existed, he had no right to appropriate 
it ; besides, it is somewhat too distant from the town to have 
been originally made for the use of the inhabitants, although, 
having been made, they eventually found it useful from its 
abundant supply of excellent and cool water. It is about a 
mile from the town ; but the site of the town may, however, 
have been formerly nearer to the well than at present, or the 
town may have been, and probably was, more extensive. The 
well stands at the commencement of a round vale, supposed tc 



THE WOMAN OP SAMABIA. 2~9 

be " the parcel of ground" that Jacob bought for a hundred 
pieces of silver, and which he bequeathed to his son Joseph. 
There was formerly a church over the well (built by the 
Empress Helena), but of this no trace but of the foundations 
now exists, and we only find over the mouth of the well & 
small arched or vaulted building. " The well is deep," being 
now, apart from deposits at the bottom, seventy-five feet in 
depth, and its diameter is nine feet; and whereas in most 
other wells of this land the water lies at the surface, in this one 
must reach to a great depth to get at the water, from which 
cause it is unusually cool. It is not now used by the inhabit- 
ants of Shechem, but is generally visited by travellers ; and 
there is no reason to entertain any doubt that this is the very 
well by which our Lord, " being faint and wearied with the 
journey," rested, about the middle of the second day, while the 
disciples were sent on to the town to purchase some victuals, 
probably bread and fruit. He could not have been so weary 
but that He might have gone on with them to the city, if He 
had seen fit ; but the relations which subsisted between Jews 
and Samaritans, precluding Him from access to any house 
there, rendered it better that such food as was needed should 
be brought thither, where the well furnished water for their 
drink. 

While our Lord tarried thus seated beside the well, a 
woman of the neighboring town came to draw water. As this 
was one of the wells too deep for the water to be easily reached, 
and no bucket was attached for general use, Jesus, although 
athirst, had not yet tasted of the water. He therefore asked 
the woman to let Him drink. Perceiving that He was a Jew, 
the woman, instead of hastening, like the Rebekahs and 
Rachels of old, to draw water for the stranger, expressed her 
astonishment at being asked a kindness by a Jew, — not, per- 
haps, that she was indisposed to render it, but that she knew 
it was a principle among the stricter Jews, such as the Phari- 
sees, that an Israelite ought not to borrow of a Samaritan, or 
accept any kindness from him, or to eat of his bread or drink 
of his water, unpurchased. Embracing the occasion which 



230 THIRTY-FOURTH WEEK WEDNESDAY. 

this reply offered to plant in this poor woman's soul the seeds 
of Divine truth, and, as was his custom, adapting his teaching 
to her condition and degree of culture, he used a natural and 
a very expressive image to awaken in her yet unspiritual mind 
an interest in Divine things. " If thou knewest the gift of 
God, and who it is that saith to thee ' Give Me to drink,' thou 
wouldst have asked of Him, and He would have given thee 
living water." Living water is water flowing from a perennial 
spring, as contrasted with dead or still water. This was highly 
prized, not only from the supply being unfailing, but from 
being regarded as the purest and most wholesome water. It 
is, therefore, no wonder that this declaration arrested the 
woman's attention and gained her respect ; and she stammered 
out a kind of apology for the little alacrity she had shown, 
and indeed still showed, in satisfying his simple request. 
" Sir, Thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep." 
"What then ? If He had possessed anything to draw with, He 
would not have needed to ask her for water. She had some- 
thing to draw with, and why not use it for Him ? There is 
much reason to suppose that the Jews and Samaritans natur- 
ally regarded as polluted and rendered unclean the vessels 
which each other had used. We still see this in the East, 
where the stricter Moslems, regarding a Christian as unclean, 
will not eat of his food, or drink from his vessel ; and if they 
give him food or water will feel bound to destroy, if of potters' 
work, or to subject to laborious purification, if of metal, wood, 
or leather, the vessels he has used. Nothing is more common 
than to see one who has given you drink, dash to pieces the 
vessel that has touched your lips ; and that not with any in- 
tention of insult or offence, but as an inevitable necessity from 
its having been polluted. There was probably something of 
the kind in operation here ; and it may be that the woman's 
backwardness arose from her unwillingness to sacrifice her 
Ditcher. 

She was, however, unwilling to drop the subject that so 
much interested her ; and in answer to her inquiries, our Lord, 
in order to quicken her longings for this living water, before 



THE WOMAN OF SAMARIA. 231 

He opened to her his inner meaning, told her that whoever 
drank of that water which He had asked of her, would thirst 
again ; but that whoever drank that water which He could 
give, would thirst no more. Then the poor woman, no small 
part of whose daily labor had been to travel that dry and 
dusty road, heavily laden with her water vessel, cried out with 
rapturous eagerness, " Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, 
neither come hither to draw." But having thus brought the 
woman of Samaria to a state of intense longing for that which 
He alone could give, He broke off the subject without any 
further explanation, and proceeded to lead her to look within. 
He told her to call her husband. She replied that she had 
none. He said, that was true; for she already had had five 
husbands, and the man with whom at present she lived was 
not her husband. That she had five husbands seems to imply 
that the same degrading facility of divorce existed among the 
Samaritans as among the Jews ; for it is more probable that 
she had been divorced by all or some of these five, than that 
they had all died. 

Astonished at the knowledge which this Jewish stranger 
possessed of her secret history, the woman recognised Him as 
a prophet ; and, beholding Him in that character, was led to 
conceive that some deeper sense than she had yet apprehended 
lay in what He had before said to her ; and the advantage of 
conversing with a prophet being so rare, she proceeded with 
some eagerness to question Him on those religious subjects 
which were of special interest to her people. The foremost 
subject was naturally the comparative claims of Jerusalem and 
Gerizim, and which indeed might be obviously suggested by 
the fact, that Gerizim itself towered up close by the spot where 
they stood. So, said she, looking or pointing to it, " Our 
fathers worshipped in this mountain ; but ye say that Jeru- 
salem is the place where men ought.to worship." Greatly must 
she have been surprised to hear this question treated with in- 
difference bj* a Jew, who spoke of a time coming, yea, already 
come, when it should be of no consequence where men wor- 
shipped the Father, so that they worshipped Him " in spirit 



232 THIRTY-FOURTH WEEK WEDNESDAY. 

and in truth." But in regard to the real question the woman 
had in view. He decided in favor of the Jews. It is true that 
the Samaritans had a simple worship, and had not encumbered 
the law of Moses with useless traditions. But still they were 
inferior to the Jews in real religious knowledge, seeing they 
had debarred themselves from the light, progressively waxing 
stronger, which the prophets had given, by refusing to acknow- 
ledge the Divine authority of the books of prophecy, and keep- 
ing themselves shut up in the older revelations to Moses as 
embodied in the Pentateuch, which formed all of Scripture 
that they received or acknowledged as Divine. Here was 
their weakness, and Jesus assigns to the Jews the superiority, 
doubtless on the ground that they remained under the influ- 
ence of a continuous and unbroken chain of revelation, which 
led on to the " salvation" which the Messiah was to bring. 

The woman so far understood this, as to see that He referred 
to the Messiah ; and therefore to express this intelligence of his 
meaning, as well as to waive a decision in which she cared not 
to acquiesce, but was unable to discuss, she expressed her per- 
suasion that the Messiah was coming, and would set all things 
right when He came. How greatly was she astonished when, 
with quiet emphasis, He told her, " I that speak unto thee am 
He." She did not question this for an instant, of one who had 
so manifestly seen into her whole course of life, whom she had 
already recognised as a prophet, and whose weighty words re- 
turned with tenfold meaning to her mind after this declaration. 
She forthwith left the water-pot, about which she had before 
been so solicitous, and hurried back empty-handed to the city, 
to tell these glad tidings there. The news was received with 
no languid interest. Many hastened out to Him at the well, 
and besought Him to go into the city, and tarry for awhile 
with them. To this earnest desire for instruction and enlighten- 
ment, our Lord responded by remaining there two days, after 
which He departed, leaving behind Him on many minds the 
conviction that " this is indeed the Christ, the Saviour of the 
world." 



the nobleman's son. 233 

THIRTY-FOURTH WEEK— THURSDAY. 
the nobleman's SON. JOHN IV. 44-54. . 

On his return to Galilee, Jesus was well received by his 
countrymen. Many of them had been at Jerusalem at the 
Passover the previous spring, and having witnessed his doings 
and his sayings there, they were anxious to see how He would 
conduct himself, and what miracles He would perform, on his 
return. In fact, Jesus was already famous ; and all his pro- 
ceedings were watched with curiosity and interest. He did 
not at first, however, give any demonstrative exercise of the 
powers that rested in Him, but simply passed on, " preaching 
the Gospel of the kingdom." "What kind of preaching that 
was, Mark (i. 14, 15) informs us, giving its substance thus — 
u The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand : re- 
pent ye, and believe the Gospel." 

Thus He proceeded, until He reached Cana of Galilee, 
which was the scene of his first recorded miracle, and was des- 
tined to be that of the second, of which a full account is given. 

It was while He was here, that a nobleman, belonging to 
the court of Herod Antipas, and whose residence was at Caper- 
naum, having heard of, or witnessed, his miracles of healing at 
Jerusalem, and being apprised of his arrival in Galilee, hastened 
to Him to implore Him to come down and heal his son who 
was at the point of death. There is some doubt as to the pre- 
cise meaning of the word translated " nobleman," and the ques- 
tion need not detain us. It is enough that he was some person 
in authority at court. Some have supposed it was Chuza, 
Herod's steward, whose wife was, at a later period, one of the 
holy women who ministered to the Lord of their substance, 
(Luke vii. 3.) tf 

Our Lord's reply to this application seems less gracious than 
his usual answers to distressed suppliants, and bears an aspect 
of repulsion and rebuke : " Except ye see signs and wonders, 
ye will not believe." There must have been a reason for this. 
We shall perceive very often that the answers of Jesus apply 



234 THIRTY-FOURTH WEEK THURSDAY. 

much less, to the questions asked and petitions addressed tc 
Him, than to the frame of mind, the disposition of heart, 
which his searching eye discovered in the querist or suppliant. 
It is hence that on occasions which bear much resemblance to 
each other in externals, the answers are often materially differ- 
ent. There were miracle seekers, who had no regard to the 
higher ends for which they were performed — that of producing 
faith in Christ — but who rather wished to make this heavenly 
power subservient to their earthly ends, and were desirous of 
thereby gratifying either low desires or mere idle curiosity. 
Against such Jesus was always strict and stern, often repelling 
their solicitations unheard. There were also those who were 
drawn to the Redeemer by the sense of craving inward wants 
which He alone could satisfy, and who under that influence at- 
tached themselves strongly to Him. These He loved best, and 
met with Divine tenderness and affection. There was yet 
another class between these, who at first were, drawn to Him 
by their instant external needs ; and who often afterwards, 
when they had obtained relief, joined Him with feelings of 
love. The present nobleman belonged to this class. He is 
not disinclined to believe ; but it is necessity alone, and not an 
inward impulse, which brings him to Christ. 

Jesus — lately come from Samaria, where the people had 
been drawn to Him by the Divine power of his words and his 
appearance, without any miracles — could not but contrast this 
with the insensibility to Divine impressions among the Jews, 
whose faith — wrapped up as they were in formal Pharisaism — 
seemed continually to need the support and exciting stimulus 
of signs and wonders. Hence our Lord's answer, or rather re- 
mark, on this occasion, is expressed in the plural form, though 
suggested by the application of the nobleman. 

This answer did not, however, amount to a refusal ; and a 
father conflicting for a son's life is not easily repelled. So the 
nobleman pressed his supplication with still greater urgency of 
supplicating entreaty — " Sir, come down ere my child die !" 
Who does not hear a groan, and see a hot tear in every word 
j>f this ? The man was a very anxiously loving father, but a 



THE NOBLEMAN S SON. 235 

very weak believer. He had not the least idea that Jesus 
could heal his son unless He went down to Capernaum, and 
performed some kind of operation or manipulation upon him. 
Hence his urgency that He should " come down." Still less 
did he suppose that there was power in Jesus to burst the 
bands of death ; and hence his anxiety that He should hasten 
his departure that He might be there, before the child's death 
should render the case past hope or cure. 

Perceiving this state of miod, our Lord, who in all his deal- 
ings with men, kept their higher interests in view, resolved to 
try his faith, and to strengthen it by the trial. He said to him, 
" Go thy way ; thy son liveth." There must have been some- 
thing good, some germ of true faith, in this man — or rather he 
received grace to believe — for he was satisfied with this simple 
assurance, that all would go well with the child whom he had 
left in the last gasps of life. So well was he satisfied, that his 
anxiety altogether vanished. This is evinced by the fact, that 
although there was plenty of time for him to have gone home 
that afternoon, as it was but the seventh hour, he delayed his 
departure till the next day, perhaps that he might see and hear 
more of Jesus. The day after, when he was on his return, he 
was met by some of his servants, who had been sent to relieve 
him from his anxiety by informing him that the child was well. 
He then inquired the time when he began to mend ; and hear- 
ing that " yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him," he 
knew that it was at the very time when Christ had said to him, 
" thy son liveth." He now perceived and knew that Jesus had 
been more kind to him than he had even dared to ask. If 
Christ had gone with him to Capernaum, it is quite likely that 
the child might have been dead before they arrived ; and al- 
though it is possible the Lord might have raised him from the 
dead, yet this was more than the nobleman would have hoped 
or expected, and he would conclude that it was too late, that 
it was all over then. But Jesus had come to the relief of the 
child far sconer than the parent asked ; for in a moment, in 
the twinkling of an eye, He had laid an arrest upon the fever, 
and poured health into the child's veins, while the father was 



236 THIRTY-FOURTH WEEK FRIDAY. 

asking the Deliverer to walk twenty miles before he gave a 
cure. , 

The effect was most salutary upon the mind of this noble- 
man : he " himself believed, and his whole house." Believed 
what ? He had before believed the word that Jesus had spoken 
to him as regarded his son ; but now, in view of all these cir- 
cumstances, and of what he had heard from and of Christ while 
in attendance at Cana, he is deeply impressed, he yields the 
adherence of faith, he enters into the number of his disciples, 
and gives himself to him as to the Messiah that was to come. 
That his house also believed under the impression of the like 
circumstances, is natural — especially was it natural that the 
mother should believe; and if that mother were the good 
Joanna, " the wife of Chuza, Herod's steward," her subsequent 
history affords interesting evidence of the depth of her gratitude 
and the earnestness of her faith. 



THIRTY-FOURTH WEEK.— FRIDAY. 

JESUS AT NAZARETH. MATT. IV. 13-16; LUKE IV. 16-30. 

Our Lord proceeded from Cana to Nazareth, " where He 
had been brought up," and from which He had been so long 
away. His townsmen had heard much of Him during his 
absence, especially concerning the recent miracle of healing at 
Capernaum, and they were anxious, or more properly curious, 
to see and hear " the carpenter's son," in his new character. 

The next Sabbath afforded the opportunity they desired. 

As had been his custom, Jesus went to the synagogue on 
that day, and " stood up to read." It may seem strange to 
some that, seeing He was not a priest or Levite, He should be 
allowed, not only to read the Scriptures, but to expound them 
in the synagogue. It must be understood, that to every syna- 
gogue there was attached an officer, whose business it was to 
provide for the orderly services of the synagogue. He offered 



JESUS AT NAZARETH. 237 

up the public prayers, and exhorted, when there was no one 
else to perform these services. It was not considered any part 
of his duty to read the Scriptures appointed for the day; but 
the members of his synagogue being generally well known to 
him, he called out, for this purpose, such as he knew to be 
qualified for the task, or such as, by some sign or movement, 
expressed their desire or willingness to read. No one could, 
however, in any case, discharge this office until the ruler of the 
synagogue had signified his consent. As Jesus was a member 
of this synagogue, we must suppose either that he was called 
upon or presented himself to read, as He had no doubt often 
done before in the same place. We suppose the former to 
have been the case, as it was usual to lay this honor upon one 
who had been any considerable time absent, as it served to re- 
introduce him to the congregation with which he had been 
wont to worship. The readings for the day were divided into 
seven sections, each of which was read by a different person, 
so that there were seven readers to be provided. The proper, 
but not indispensable arrangement, was considered to be, that 
the first section should be read by a priest, the second by a 
Levite, and the other five by any competent Israelites, but 
preferably by members of the synagogue ; and there was gen- 
erally much readiness to hear those, whether strangers or mem- 
bers, who set up for religious teachers, or leaders of sects, in 
order that the people might have an opportunity of estimating 
their claims and judging their pretensions. 

Thus we see that, on various grounds, it was perfectly natu- 
ral that Jesus should stand up to read in the synagogue of 
Nazareth ; and it will also be seen that the passage He read, 
strikingly appropriate as it was, was not chosen by himself, but 
was that portion of the Scripture-reading of the day, which in 
due course fell to him. 

It was the custom to read the Scripture standing ; it was 
improper even to lean. The only exception was, when the 
readings were from the book of Esther, when the reader was at 
liberty to sit if he thought proper. Hence it was that oui 
Saviour "stood up to read." 



238 THIRTY-FOURTH WEEK — FRIDAY. 

There was then delivered to hirn by the Chazan, or " min- 
ister," or servant of the synagogue — who had charge of the 
sacred books, and whose function, among others, it was to take 
them from the chest, hand them to the reader, and receive 
them back again — the roll containing the book of Isaiah, in 
which the prophetical reading for the day was to be found. 
The passage which it devolved on Him to read was short, being 
merely one long verse of Isaiah,* in which the prophet sets 
forth the offices of the Messiah. Having read it, Jesus sat 
down, instead of returning to the spot He had left ; and this 
was a sign that He intended to make some remarks on what 
He had read, for it was the custom of those who exhorted to 
sit down ; and when Jesus did so, the eyes of every one there 
were fixed eagerly upon Him to hear what He would say. He 
began by telling them that the Scripture He had read, was 
that day fulfilled ; and we may gather from this, that He pro- 
ceeded to declare that the long-predicted year of the prophetic 
jubilee was come, and that He claimed to be the one sent to 
open the blind eyes, and to offer liberty to the captives of sin 
and Satan. His words made an impression ; but it was only 
upon the surface, for the audience were unconscious of their 
spiritual bondage, and felt no longings for deliverance. 

Their astonishment that one, whom they had known from 
childhood, should speak with so much authority and power, 
soon gave way to doubts ; and the congregation, who, as is 
still the bad custom of the Jews, indulged in strange conversa- 
tional freedom at their religious meetings, began to nod to one 
another and say, " Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary 
the brother of James, and Judas, and Simon ? Are not his 
sisters also here with us?" Questions which virtually ask, 
how it was possible that such a man could speak in this tone, 
and do those deeds which rumor ascribed to Him. Incapable 
of appreciating, as the Samaritans had done, the value of the 

* " The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me ; because the Lord hath 
anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek : He hath sent me 
to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and 
the opening of the prison to them that are bound." — Isaiah hri. 1. 



JESUS AT tfAZARETH. 239 

heavenly gifts which Jesus offered, they required (whether 
avowedly or not) that He should execute such miracles as He 
was reported to have done in other places, before they could 
recognize his claims. 

Now, one of the fundamental principles on which Christ 
acted, forbade Him to accept any challenge of this sort, which 
He received more than once. He would do nothing for those 
who insisted on seeing in order to believe ; but He could do 
much for them — He could let them see convincing sights, who 
did not make seeing the condition of their belief. Jesus knew 
very well all that they thought, and all they whispered to each 
other ; and, accurately measuring their state of feeling, He 
was well aware that, while they remained in that state, no- 
thing he could do would convincingly satisfy them. He there- 
fore spoke to their thoughts and murmurs, defining the real 
nature of their demand, and refusing to comply with it. He 
showed, by various examples, that the grace of God acted 
freely, and gave it to be understood that miracles were not to 
be extorted from Him, to satisfy unreasonable demands, or to 
meet ungrounded misbelief. 

On thus learning that their curiosity after miracles was not 
to be satisfied, and that no special favors were to be bestowed 
upon them, the congregation became exasperated to madness ; 
and they rushed out of the synagogue, hurrying Jesus along 
with them, intending to thrust Him over one of the high cliffs 
of the hill, on which the city stood. But his hour was not yet 
come, and by the way He escaped from their hands — whether 
by miracle or by the exercise of natural providence, aided by 
the presence of his disciples, is not recorded. 

Thus our Lord verified his own proverb, which He had 
used before with reference to Galilee in general, and which He 
had cited in the synagogue with reference to Nazareth in par- 
ticular, — " A prophet hath no honor (or is not accepted) in his 
own country," and, as he added on another occasion, " among 
his own kindred" and acquaintances. This is indeed, as stated, 
a matter of general experience — as wide as life ; and parallel 
expressions have been abundantly cited from pagan writers, 



240 THIRTY-FOURTH WEEK SATURDAY. 

and may be found among the choice sayings of every country. 
In all ages, distinguished men have been least esteemed by 
those who have been witnesses of their entire history, in which 
the human has been necessarily more conspicuously visible 
than the mental or the spiritual. Jesus also, in regard to his 
human nature, had developed himself according to the general 
laws of man's life ; and it thus became difficult for his towns- 
men to recognize his Divine highness in his human lowness. 



THIRTY-FOURTH WEEK— SATURDAY. 

THE DRAUGHT OF FISHES. 

matt. iv. 18-22 ; mark I. 16-20 ; luke v. 1-11. 

On quitting Nazareth Jesus proceeded to Capernaum, which 
henceforth became his head-quarters. This was then one of 
the most important towns upon the western border of the Lake 
of Tiberias. If its sight has been correctly identified at the 
now forsaken spot called Tell Hum, towards the northen bor- 
der of the lake,* there are remains of splendid public buildings 
to attest its ancient consequence. The site is also delightful, 
commanding a fine view of the lake, and of the steep and 
high mountains around. Behind it the land is fertile and well 
suited to husbandry, and the lake before it abounds with fine 
and delicious fish, and has its surface covered with wild ducks, 
which are easily snared ; and on these, as well as on other ac- 
counts, it may be said to be " exalted unto heaven," as our 
Lord once said of it. In all respects it furnished a place of 
abode admirably suited to his purposes, both from the facility 
of communication, as well by land as by the lake, with many 

* This was the conclusion in which travellers had rested, until Dr. 
Robinson set up a claim in favor of another site, now called Khora 
Minyeh, much more to the south. This claim seems to us to have been 
shaken, and that in favor of Tell Hum re-established, by more recent 
writers. 



THE DRAUGHT OF FISHES. 241 

considerable and flourishing towns, and of escape into a more 
secure region in case of any threatened persecution. These 
were among the considerations which probably determined 
Jesus to remain at this place ; but He also knew that an im- 
pression favorable to his ministry had already been made by 
the recent cure of the nobleman's son ; and that He should 
here find the disciples who had at first attached themselves 
to Him, and whom He now purposed to take into more inti- 
mate communion with Him, and attendance upon him. They 
were fishermen upon this lake, to which they had returned to 
resume their customary occupations, on which their livelihood 
depended, — though at what time this separation took place, 
we do not well know ; perhaps after they had been to Jerusa- 
lem at the Passover with Him ; perhaps so recently as their 
arrival in Galilee, when he went to his home, and they to 
theirs : in either case, probably with the understanding that 
they would see Him ere long at Capernaum. 

When there, an opportunity for taking them into a more 
fixed connection with Him was soon found. He was one 
morning walking upon the beach near Capernaum, when a 
crowd rapidly gathered around One of whom so many strange 
things had been reported, and about whom local curiosity had 
been so intensely excited. Their wish was such as He never 
repelled — it was "to hear the word of God." But they 
pressed inconveniently upon Him ; and his first post being on 
a lower level than theirs, was but ill suited for addressing with 
advantage a large number of people. There were close by, 
upon the shore, two fishing-boats, belonging to fishermen who 
had been out all night upon the lake without catching any 
fish, and who were now, weary and dispirited, washing their 
nets, before laying them out to dry, ere they went home to 
get such rest and refreshment as might fit them for the toils 
of another night. Into one of these boats Jesus entered, and 
desired the owner to push out a little from the shore ; and 
this being done, He addressed the crowd from the boat, secure 
by a slight watery barrier, and elevated sufficiently for them to 
see and hear Him with advantage. 

vol. in. H 



242 THIRTY-FOURTH WEEK — SATURDAY. 

The bout which had afforded to Jesus this convenience be- 
longed to Peter, who was there with his brother Andrew ; and 
the other boat was the property of Zebedee, the father of James 
and John, the two boats working in partnership. "When our 
Lord had left speaking, He turned to Simon (Peter), and direct- 
ed him to launch out into deeper water, and cast out his nets 
again. Simon then mentioned the fact, that they had been 
toiling all the night — the time most suitable for fishing — and 
and had taken nothing ; " nevertheless," he added, " at thy 
command I will let down the net." This has been generally 
understood to mean, that Peter had no faith in the result, and 
merely complied with the request of One whom, out of regard 
to their former transient relation, he recognised as his " Master," 
and felt bound to obey. Since the words will equally bear the 
interpretation, it is more just to Peter, and more in conformity 
with his character, to understand him as saying, that indeed they 
had labored until they had no more hope from the ordinary 
resources of their craft, — yet, since He whose authority he re- 
cognised, and whose power he revered, saw proper to give 
such a command, the case was altered, and he would hopefully 
cast down his net once more into the deep. He did so ; and 
presently it was found that such an immense weight of fish 
was enclosed in the net, as it was impossible for the united 
strength of the two brothers to draw, or for the boat to manage. 
The net indeed began to break with their attempt to draw it. 
Perceiving this, the brothers hailed their partners in the other 
boat, who hastened to their relief; and when, by their aid, the 
net was at length drawn, its contents filled both the boats even 
to the danger of sinking. At this great miracle the partners, 
who, as fishermen, could estimate it even more accurately than 
we can, and who, from its having occurred in their own 
business, were probably more impressed by it than by mira- 
cles which we might regard as more signal, were all greatly 
astonished ; and Peter, always quick in feeling, and ever ready 
to act on the impulse of the moment, " fell down at Jesus' 
knees, saying, Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord." 
Andrew shared in this feeling, though not in the expression , 



THE DRAUGHT OF FISHES. 243 

and this state of mind formed the best preparation possible for 
true and full adhesion to Christ. He said to both of them, 
" Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men," — a phrase 
by which they better understood the nature of their relation to 
Him, and of the office that lay before them, than probably 
they would have done from any other expression He could have 
used. 

This was the real call of Peter and Andrew to the apostle- 
ship. Before, they had been disciples, which consisted with 
their retention of their ordinary pursuits and occupations ; but 
now they were to give themselves wholly to Him, to follow 
Him wherever He went, to go wherever He sent them, and to 
be constant companions of his labors, his trials, and his joys ; 
in order that they might themselves be built up in the faith, 
and become witnesses of Him, and teachers whose influence 
should be felt to the end of time, and to the utmost limits of 
the habitable world. 

They responded joyfully to this call, — they conferred not 
with flesh and blood, but as soon as they had brought their 
ship to land, " they left all and followed Him." It will be ob- 
served that, when this took place, Peter and Andrew were 
alone with Jesus in one of the two boats; and although John 
and James, in the other boat, had been suitably impressed by 
the miracle, it does not seem they had witnessed this latter 
proceeding, the two boats having parted from their close vicinity 
as soon as each had received its lading. It seems, also, that 
they steered for a point somewhat distant from that at which 
the others landed. This may be accounted for by the fact, 
that Peter and Andrew had now no other object than to land 
at the nearest point ; whereas the others would desire to take 
their cargo to the point near Capernaum where fish was usually 
landed. At all events, that some interval of time had elapsed, 
is shown by the circumstance, that by the time our Lord, with 
his two followers, arrived at the place where the sons of Zebe- 
dee landed, they had discharged and sold their cargo, and were 
occupied with their father and " hired servants" in repairing 
the damages the nets had received. The former acts precede 



244 THIRTY-FOURTH WEEK SATURDAY 

the latter ; for the first anxiety of fishermen on reaching land 
is to dispose of their fish, before they had leisure to mend their 
nets. 

When our Lord came to the place "where they were thus 
employed, He at once called James and John to follow Him ; 
and they obeyed as promptly as Peter and Andrew had done. 
They also left all to follow Him. And that was not much, 
some have remarked, in either this case or the other — a boat 
and a few nets. It was more. It was a forsaking of the place, 
the homes around which, for them, all the charities of life were 
gathered — of the friends and neighbors with whom they had 
been accustomed to associate, and of the relations in whom 
their hearts were delighted. It was an abandonment of the 
habits of life to which they had been used, and of the occupa- 
tion in which alone they were skilled, and which furnished 
their subsistence. And this, not to attach themselves to one 
who was rich or great, or who could or did hold out to them 
any worldly advantages — but to One who was as poor as them- 
selves, and One with whom they were often to suffer ! peril, 
hunger, and thirst, and who could not assure them of a place 
where to lay their heads. Whatever they left — it was- their 
all ; and was as valuable to them as may be the house or land, 
the library, the office, the shop, of any one who reads this. "No 
one can leave more than all he has. And the " all" of these 
disciples seems to have been underrated. We do not even 
now consider the owner of a fishing smack and nets a poor 
man ; and in the case of John and James, their vessel seems 
to have been one of size and value, for it is recorded that they 
had " hired servants" (at least their father had), who were en- 
gaged with him in mending the nets, when Jesus called John 
and James away. These were doubtless fishermen, paid by 
wages of money or fish, who went out with Zebedee's sons in 
the boat. The old man himself seems not to have been in the 
habit of going out on this night work ; nor needed he to do so 
when he had such sons, and could afford to hire laborers. Hence 
his presence is not recognised until we find him helping the 
others in mending the nets. Zebedee himself, as well as his 



"not as the scribes." 245 

wife, were probably believers in Christ ; hence the former, al- 
though present when the call was given, made no opposition 
to the withdrawal of his sons. This is the only time, indeed, 
that he appears personally ; but his wife we shall hereafter 
meet with, under circumstances which place beyond question 
her belief in Jesus as the Messiah. 



&l)irt£-;irift!) fttoek— KmU^. 

" NOT AS THE SCRIBES." MARK I. 21, 22 J LUKE IV. 31, 32, 

On the Sabbath-day following the miraculous draught of 
fishes, our Lord made his appearance in the synagogue at 
Capernaum, and availed himself of the usual opportunity, 
which the rules of the synagogues allowed, of preaching the 
Gospel of the kingdom. The reception which He here met 
with was very different from that which He had experienced 
in the synagogue at Nazareth. We are informed that his 
hearers were " astonished at his doctrine ;" and why ? " Be- 
cause He taught them as one having authority, and not as 
the Scribes." It was, both in matter and manner, something 
new and strange and startling, and coming in " the demon- 
stration of the Spirit, and of power," it carried its own evi- 
dence along with it, working strong convictions on their minds. 

It will be well, however, to consider what was the teaching 
of the Scribes, with which that of our Lord was so strikingly 
and favorably contrasted. 

And here it is important to observe, that in some of the re- 
spects in which the teaching of Christ differed from that of the 
learned teachers of his day, it differed also from that of Chris- 
tian teachers. The former could only declare what they found 
set down in the writings of Moses and the prophets, and their 
exhortations could only expand and enforce what was under- 
stood to be the meaning and full purport of what they found 
written there. Had they brought forward any novelties not 



246 THIRTY-FIFTH WEEK — SUNDAY. 

to be found in these ancient Scriptures, or not supposed to be 
fairly deducible from their contents, they would have laid 
themselves open to the charge of heresy. This applies equally 
to Christian teachers, who have no authority to put forth any 
new doctrine, nor have any right to build on any other foun- 
dation than that which Christ and his apostles have already 
laid ; and who begin to stumble and fall among the dark 
mountains, as soon as they wander from that record which 
has been left as a lamp for their path. 

But here, where Jewish and Christian teachers feel equally 
bound to the records of their faith, Christ was altogether free, 
and spoke as one who claimed to be, as one who was himself, 
a sufficient authority for all He uttered, and as by no means 
bound to appeal to law or testimony, although He often did 
so, to silence the gainsayers or to convince the doubters. He 
spoke as one who was himself a lawgiver, equal to Moses, 
superior to Moses, and as entirely competent by his own pro- 
per authority to abrogate any old law, and to establish any 
new law, without being accountable to any of the powers on 
earth, before which others bowed. His doctrine was his own. 
His mouth was a sufficient law to himself and to the world. 
Others said — others say, Believe this, for it is written there. 
But He always says, " Verily, verily, / say unto you." He 
says, Believe this, because /say it. No one before Him, nor 
any since, could ever speak thus ; and, therefore, it was with 
great truth and with just perception of the distinctive qualities 
of his teaching, that his auditors on one occasion declared, 
" No man ever spake like this man !" 

But there was another very serious point on which the 
teaching of the Scribes at this time and since differed from 
that of our Lord, and from that of every sound and " able 
minister of the New Testament." They not only were of ne- 
cessity tied to Scripture, but they voluntarily tied themselves 
to certain interpretations, nor did any one attempt to gain, or 
expect to gain, attention to the exposition or interpretation he 
offered, without producing for it some antecedent authority ; 
and, therefore, no preacher ventured to declare what appeared 



247 

to himself the right view to be taken of any text of the law or 
of the prophets ; but invariably would say, " Our rabbis, or our 
wise men, say so and so ;" " Our ancient doctors thought thus 
and thus." The name of the particular rabbi or doctor was 
also usually given, and the tenets circulated were judged 
rather by the renown of the name than by the weight of the 
opinion. The great doctors whose names were most frequently 
heard at that day, were Hillel among the Pharisees, and 
Shammai among the Sadducees. But the rabbinical writers 
have left a tradition concerning Hillel himself, which curiously 
illustrates this mode of teaching, and shows that even he was 
obliged to submit to it. " The great Hillel taught truly, and 
according to the traditions respecting a certain matter. But 
although he discoursed of that matter all day long, they re- 
ceived not his doctrine, until he at last said, ' So I heard from 
Shemaia and Abtalion.' " 

This kind of teaching went for little but to display the 
memory and the learning of the teacher. It was to the hearers 
flat and unprofitable ; it was also low ; for while it affected to 
be high in scholarship and knowledge, the teachers inevitably 
spoke as those who were not themselves masters of what they 
preached. Thus the word, even if in itself good, could not 
come from them with any life or force. It was not from the 
heart; it was not aimed at hearts, and it did not reach them. 
But the teaching was not intrinsically good. It was full of 
curious questions and vain janglings that edified not, and 
brought no refreshment to thirsty souls ; while the teaching 
of Jesus, as shown in the Sermon on the Mount, to which the 
same observation is appended as on the present occasion, was 
open, plain, grave, useful, direct, and animated. These are 
qualities which those who cannot speak with the like authority, 
may imitate ; and those who are " wise to win souls," and who 
have no care but that, will do so, and may expect that God 
will not suffer his word, thus poured fourth, to return unto 
Him void. 



248 THIRTY-FIFTH WEEK MONDAY. 



THIRTY-FIFTH WEEK— MONDAY. 

THE UNCLEAN SPIRIT. 

mark i. 23-34 ; luke iv. 33-41 ; matt. viii. 14-1^. 

The people in the synagogue at Capernaum had seen and 
had borne witness that Jesus was " mighty in words ;" they 
had also to behold that He was likewise " mighty in deeds." 

There was at Capernaum a man known by all the inhabi- 
tants to be possessed by " an unclean spirit." Into the facts 
attending such possessions we shall not this evening inquire, as 
other instances lie farther on, upon which such an inquiry may 
more advantageously be grounded. This man was in the 
synagogue when Jesus was there, or perhaps entered it towards 
the close of his discourse. It may excite some surprise that he 
was admitted to that place. But the Jews were careful that a 
man thus afflicted should suffer as little as possible on account 
of his misfortune. He was allowed to go where he pleased, 
and no restraint was laid upon him, so long as his conduct was 
not dangerously violent. Such persons were indeed allowed 
many licences that would not have been permitted in a man 
responsible for his conduct. There was no particular reason for 
excluding them from synagogues more than from any other 
places ; for the Jews did not transfer to the synagogues any 
of those ideas of sanctity which belonged to the temple at 
Jerusalem, nor accounted them as in any way sacred places. 

The unclean spirit knew that Holy One, and trembled at his 
presence. He cried out, through the voice of the man whom 
he held captive, " Let us alone. What have we to do with 
Thee, Thou Jesus of Nazareth ? Art Thou come to destroy 
us ? I know Thee who Thou art, the Holy One of God." 
Here, then, the powers of hell avouch the character and mission 
(" to destroy the work of the devil") to which Heaven had al- 
ready borne its testimony. But earth gave no responsive re- 
cognition. Heaven had spoken — Hell had spoken — but Earth 
still was mute. 



THE UNCLEAN SPIRIT. 249 

Jesus himself, indeed, repelled this testimony, as He did on 
other occasions. We are told that He rebuked the unclean 
spirit, and imposed silence upon him : " Hold thy peace, and 
come out of him." And He was obeyed. After casting the 
man upon the ground in strong convulsions, the unclean spirit 
departed reluctantly from him with horrid cries of abortive 
rage. 

How the wonder-workers of that age — for there were many 
who pretended to cast out devils — would have gloried in any 
such testimony to their power as those which Jesus sileneed 
and deprecated ! It may, indeed, be conceived, from some 
points of view, that this testimony might have been useful in 
promoting the reception of his ministry ; and it may be in- 
quired, Why it was always checked and suppressed by Him % 
Some take it to have been the cry of abject fear, that with 
fawning and flattery, sought to avert the impending doom ; 
others compare the exclamations before us to those of a fugitive 
slave, who dreams of nothing but stripes and torments when he 
meets his well-known lord, and would then, by any means, turn 
away his anger. But our Lord's promptitude and decision in 
silencing this testimony, would seem rather to suggest that He 
saw it was intended for mischief, and could in the end accom- 
plish nothing else. From such a source, whatever might be 
its immediate effect, it was likely to injure the estimation of 
Him in whose behalf it was borne ; for the truth itself might 
come into discredit when the " father of lies" bore witness to it. 
It might have given ground for, or sanction to, the charge, that 
his miracles were wrought by collusion with demons, or by un- 
lawful necromantic arts. As it was, this charge did eventually 
arise, and is believed by the Jews to this day. It appeared 
even in his own time, and was more than once cast in his teeth. 
" He casteth out devils by Beelzebub the prince of devils" — a 
charge which He met with such awful indignation as may well 
suggest the importance for evil which He attached to it, and 
explains the care He took to repress the insidious declarations 
in his favor of the unclean spirits whom He cast out. 

This miracle— the first of the kind — struck the people with 
11* 



250 THIRTY-FIFTH WEEK MONDAY. 

amazement ; and rightly recognising miracles as evidence of 
Christ's doctrine and mission, they exclaimed one to another, 
'" What thing is this ? — what new doctrine is this ? — for with 
authority commandeth He even the unclean spirits, and they 
do obey Him." In fact, a strong enthusiasm was excited about 
" the Prophet of Nazareth," not only in this neighborhood, but 
throughout Galilee ; and this was no unsuitable preparation for 
that almost triumphant progress which He soon after made in 
this region. 

Peter and Andrew, although of Bethsaida, had their abode 
at Capernaum, and dwelt together in a house there. To that 
house Jesus repaired to partake of their noon-tide meal, after 
He left the synagogue. It was then that Jesus heard that the 
mother of Peter's wife lay in the house ill of a fever ; on which, 
with benevolent anxiety to relieve her from her peril, and to re- 
lease his friends from their anxiety on her account, He arose 
and desired to be led to her. Approaching the place where 
she lay, He took her by the hand and lifted her up ; and im- 
mediately the " great fever" departed from her ; and instead 
of being, as is usual when one recovers from a fever in the 
natural way, left with exhausted energy and prostrated strength, 
the woman found herself not only cured but so invigorated by 
that touch, that she immediately left her bed and hastened to 
give her aid in providing what was needful for the entertain- 
ment. 

The news of this soon got out into the town, and, together 
with the miracle of the morning, excited a most lively sensa- 
tion through all its streets. One thought seemed at the same 
time to take possession of the minds of every sick person in the 
city — that now at last the means of cure for them — of release 
from their sufferings — were offered, and that they had only to 
hasten to Peter's house to obtain relief from Jesus of Nazareth. 
With their notions, they dared not go, much less could those 
who could not go themselves be carried, until the Sabbath day 
had reached its close. But never, perhaps, was the ending of 
a Sabbath-day more anxiously waited for. We can conceive 
how many mounted to the house tops, or put their heads out 



THE LEPER. 251 

of the lattice, to see how near the sun was to its setting ; and 
no sooner did its last beams cease to redden the still waters of 
the lake, and its broad disc disappear behind the up lands of 
Galilee, than the houses seemed to empty out all their inmates 
into the streets, along which presently the sick, the lame, the 
blind, the paralytic, the possessed — walking, led, supported by 
crutches, or carried in their beds — attended by numerous 
friends, streamed along, converging to that one street which 
contained the obscure dwelling of the two fishermen. Here 
the crowd became so great that, as the narrator emphatically 
remarks, " all the city was gathered together at the door." 
They came not in vain, nor was any one sent disappointed 
home. Jesus healed them all. And had it been possible for 
the sick of all the world, instead of all the city, to have assem- 
bled before that door, they could as easily have been healed by 
Him, who even " himself took our infirmities and bare our 
sicknesses." 

The sun which had set upon an expectant crowd of miser- 
able creatures, arose next morning upon a city from which 
disease had fled. 



THIRTY-FIFTH WEEK— TUESDAY. 

THE LEPER. 

matt. vin. 2-4 ; mark i. 35-45 ; luke iv. 42-44 ; v. 12-15 

When Simon and his friends went the next morning to the 
house where Jesus lodged, they found that He was not there. 
He had at break of day gone out, and retired to a solitary 
place, where He might indulge in communion with his Father 
in secret prayer. 

The disciples, therefore, set forth to follow, having probably, 
from previous observation of his habits, some notion of the 
quarter where He was likely to be found. As they went along 
the town, they failed not to observe that the popular move- 
ment respecting Jesus, was reviving with the awakening day ; 



252 THIRTY-FIFTH WEEK TUESDAY. 

and they met clusters of people who were eagerly inquiring 
after Him, or watching to see or hear Him. This was told 
Him by Peter, when they had found the place to which He 
had withdrawn. Upon this He announced his intention of 
commencing a tour through Galilee, that the benefits He had 
the power to impart, might be the more widely diffused. So, 
attended by them, He proceeded from place to place teaching 
in the synagogues, preaching the Gospel of the kingdom, and 
healing all manner of sickness, and all manner of disease 
among the people. The consequence was, that crowds gathered 
to Him, under various influences, wherever He came ; and his 
fame flew far and wide throughout all Syria. The sick were 
brought to Him from every quarter ; and although the dis- 
eases under which they suffered were, as enumerated, mostly 
such as were in that clay accounted incurable — it needed but a 
word from Him to heal them. It is therefore not strange, 
that, between the desire to hear his new doctrine, given forth 
in a style so fresh and peculiar, and the wish to witness his 
miracles or to profit by them, numbers of people resorted to 
Him from considerable distances ; and these, instead of dis- 
persing like the local crowds, followed Him wherever He went ; 
their body being replenished by new comers as fast as those 
who were satisfied withdrew. Some of them were from beyond 
the Jordan — and this explains how He came to be so well 
known when, not long after, He made his appearance in that 
region. . 

Only one of the miracles of this journey is particularly re- 
corded, and that, perhaps, because it was the first of its kind 
It was the cure of a leper. There was no disease accounted 
more absolutely incurable than this. No one who suffered 
under it even entertained the hope or expectation of cure, ex- 
cept by the wearing out of the disease, nor did any physician 
or charlatan (of whom there have been some in every age), 
ever attempt to cure it, or pretend to be able to do so. Hence 
lepers are among the last who are mentioned as seeking the 
aid of Jesus. Not that they had not heard of Him— not that 
many of them had not seen Him afar off. They talked of his 



THE LEPER. 253 

great doings to each other in their isolated communities, and 
as they recounted the wonders of mercy He had wrought, they 
shook their sad heads, and remarked one to another that He 
had not yet cured a leper, and asked who, since the days of 
Elisha, had ever heard of a leper being cured. But there was 
one poor fellow who suffered a ray of hope to enter his heart, 
and being entered, he nourished it till it grew into faith. The 
more he thought upon the miraculous cures of which he heard, 
the more he felt that in the prophet of Galilee rested a power 
such as the world had not before known, and which it were 
idle to limit at leprosy. Yes, He could cure him ; but would 
He do so ? Would He deign even to look upon an object so 
loathsome and so vile ? Would He not rather, as scores of 
famous teachers and learned doctors had done, warn him from 
his path as a pollution ? The poor leper may be forgiven this 
doubt ; for his affliction had not allowed him to enter the cities 
in which Jesus taught, or to mix in the crowds that saw his 
miracles. He had not therefore been able to witness the 
Divine compassion that so often beamed from the Saviour's 
eyes, or to hear the tender gentleness of those tones in which 
He spoke to the cast down and the miserable. 

Well, then, Jesus could doubtless heal him; and it re- 
mained to see if He were willing. He could but try. He 
lost nothing — nothing, alas ! but hope — if he were repelled : 
he gained much if he were accepted. 

This concluded, there remained yet the difficulty of gaining 
access to his presence. He could not go into any town to seek 
Him, nor could he, to approach Him, enter the crowds by 
which He was usually in public surrounded. There was but 
one course, and this was to wait upon the road leading to 
Capernaum, when the return of Jesus was expected, and to 
accost Him as He went by with his disciples. He went, he 
waited; and doubt not that his unleperous heart beat in 
audible throbs, when he at length beheld the near approach 
of One who might deliver him from the horrible bondage in 
which he had lain so long. He advanced towards our Lord 
as He came nigh, and laying his head low in the dust before 



254 THIRTY-FIFTH WEEK TUESDAY. 

Him, he cried, "Lord, if Thou wilt, Thou canst make me 
clean." O, the agonizing suspense of the moment that fol- 
lowed. But it was not protracted. A replying voice that 
went at once to his heart and filled it with rapture, said, " I 
will;" and our Saviour, moved with deep compassion, put 
forth his hand and touched him — him whom no unleperous 
hand had touched for years — and the same voice, which nevei 
left his memory more, said to him, "Be clean!" At that 
word a change passed over him — he felt new blood tingle 
through his veins — he felt the flush of healthy life in all his 
tainted members — he knew that his leprosy had passed from 
him, and he stood up cleansed, enfranchised, restored to his 
family and friends, and to all the blessings of social life. Pro- 
bably in the fulness of his thankfulness and joy, this man would 
have followed Jesus from that hour ; but he saw the necessity 
of following the directions of his Healer, that he should repair 
to Jerusalem, and there present himself to the priest to obtain 
from him that formal recognition of his freedom from leprosy, 
without which the law would not hold him clean. Besides 
this purpose of restoring the man to his civil and religious 
rights, the examination by the priest, and his attestation of his 
being no longer a leper, served to make the priest himself a 
testifying witness to the reality of the miracle. No one could 
after that question that the cure had been most real and effec- 
tual. The priest, well instructed in the signs of leprosy, ex- 
amined such persons carefully, and kept them apart for seven 
days, when, if no signs of leprosy appeared, he performed the 
rites of purification prescribed by the law, and declared them 
clean. 

In another matter the restored leper found obedience more 
difficult. Jesus enjoined him to say nothing to any one of the 
way in which he had been healed. But feeling that he had 
not merely been cured of a disease which all men believed 
hopeless, but by that cure had been restored to all that made 
life a blessing, and his heart bursting with thankfulness to his 
Benefactor, the poor man could not contain himself, but " went 
out and began to publish it much, and to blaze abroad the 



THE PARALYTIC. 255 

matter." We can hardly find it in our hearts to blame him 
severely. His gratitude, and his reluctance that his Deliverer 
should fail of any of the honor due to Him, considerably ex- 
cuse his disobedience. The result, however, was very incon- 
venient to Jesus; for the crowds that pressed upon all his 
steps became greater than ever, so that He was for the time 
unable to enter Capernaum openly, but remained mostly in the 
secluded places which the neighborhood offered, and where He 
addressed the manageable congregations that came, and heated 
the sick that were brought to him in those retreats. 



THIRTY-FIFTH WEEK— WEDNESDAY. 

THE PARALYTIC. MARK II. 1-4; LUKE V. 1*7-1.9. 

As soon as the first excitement created by the cure of the 
leper had subsided, our Lord again appeared in the town of 
Capernaum, where, in his own house, or perhaps in that of 
Peter, He declared his doctrine to those who repaired to Him. 

It being ascertained where He might be found, persons of 
consideration repaired to Capernaum, not only from other 
parts of Galilee, but even from Judea and Jerusalem ; some, 
doubtless, in search of benefit to their souls, some from curi- 
osity to see and hear One whose name was in every mouth, 
and others to watch whether any dangerous principles lurked 
in a doctrine so actively promulgated. Among these, and all, 
probably, belonging to the latter class, were Pharisees and 
doctors of the law. With persons of this class sitting by, 
Jesus was one day addressing a dense congregation in the 
house, when a circumstance occurred which has been greatly 
misunderstood for want of an accurate apprehension of the 
difference between Oriental houses and our own, and which 
may, therefore, render some details on this subject necessary — 
so far at least as may be of assistance in explaining the 
transaction. 



256 THIRTY-FIFTH WEEK "WEDNESDAY. 

Our own houses usually front the street, towards which 
they display all their ornamental architecture; and as our 
houses are double, or have one room or set of rooms behind 
another on each floor, together forming the thickness (or, as it 
is called, " depth") of the house, there is another secondary 
front behind, with windows to give light to the back rooms 
and looking towards a court or garden in the rear. 

All this is different in the East. 

There are no back rooms, and consequently no need of twt 
fronts to a house. The back of the house is a dead wall ; and 
the front, instead of being towards the street, is turned towards 
an inner court, and the back is presented to the street in the 
shape of a lofty dead wall, of the height of the house, and 
generally constructed of mud. There is, however, a latticed 
window high up, or a kind of projecting balcony screened with 
latticed work, belonging to an apartment called in Scripture 
" the summer parlor," and " the chamber in the wall." The 
outer gate of the house is of course, being of necessity towards 
the street, at the back of the house. One does not enter by 
this at once into the court, but goes through a low passage ; 
nor, when the door is open, can one see through into the court, 
or view any of the interior building. This is avoided by 
making the actual entrance into the court, not at the end of 
the passage, but in one of the sides near the termination of 
the passage. Passing this, we are in the court. We do not 
here find merely one front of building looking into it, but two 
or three, as the case may be, though seldom four. The reason 
is, that the Easterns do not build their houses in many stories, 
but lay out, side by side, the chambers which we pile up over 
each other ; so that an eastern house, with not more accom- 
modation than we, with our double rooms and floor above 
floor, can rear upon a contracted foundation and with one 
narrow frontage, will, in the East, require a large area, and a 
frontage extended around the sides of the court. There are 
usually but two floors — the ground floor and an upper floor. 
The ground floor comprises the kitchen, store-rooms, and 
various domestic offices ; and the family lives in the upper 



THE PARALYTIC. 



257 



floor, the chambers of which look into and open into a gallery 
to which there is access by one or two staircases, usually of 
stone. The gallery is generally broad, and is covered with a 
boarded roof supported by wooden pillars, which effectually 
shades the inhabited rooms from the sun. 




We are speaking of the house as having but one court, as 
that is sufficient for our immediate purpose. But it must be 
noticed that the better sort of houses have often two courts, 
one within another, and sometimes even three. But as, in this 
case, all but the outer court are the private parts of the house, 
to which no strangers or visitors have access, the transactions 
recorded could only have taken place in one of the courts, and 
that the outer court, if, which seems to us not likely, the house 
in which our Lord was had more courts than one. 

The middle room of the principal frontage, which is com- 
monly the one on the side of the court furthest from the en- 
trance, lies wholly open, displaying the decorated apartment in 
which the master of the house receives and entertains his visitr 



258 THIRTY-FIFTH WEEK THURSDAY. 

ors. In this room we suppose that the doctors of the law and 
other strangers, who are described as " sitting by," were seated, 
for there was no other place for sitting ; while Jesus stood forth 
in the gallery, with his disciples and other privileged persons, 
and thus addressed the persons assembled in the court below. 
It was then that some persons, bearing a helpless paralytic 
in his bed, came to the house, in the hope that Jesus would 
heal him. But the court, and even the inner door, being 
crowded, they could not get near to the place where He 
stood. What was to be done ? Friendly zeal is inventive of 
expedients ; and as the idea of going to the top of a house, is 
as familiar to an Oriental as that of going to any room in it, it 
occurred to them that if they could get their afflicted friend to 
the roof of the house, it might be safely managed to let him 
down in his bed to the place where Jesus stood. But how 
were they to take him to the roof? Of the "external stair" 
leading to the house-top, of which some writers speak, we have 
no knowledge — the access to the roof being generally, as far as 
we have seen, from the interior of the court. It is often, how- 
ever, near the door which opens into the court, and they might, 
with a little entreaty, and some pushing, have gained access to 
it. But as there is said to have been a great crowd even 
" about the door," we incline to think they availed themselves 
of an easier and more obvious expedient. This was to go next 
door, and ask leave to take their friend to the top of that 
house, where they could easily pass him over the parapet to 
the roof to which they desired to have access. 






THIRTY-FIFTH WEEK— THURSDAY. 

THE HOUSETOP. 
MATTHEW IX. 2-8 ; MARK II. 4-12 *, LUKE V. 20-26. 

Having brought the friends and their afflicted burden to 
the roof, let us consider what they had to do when they got 
there. 



THE HOUSETOP. 259 

Many, founding their notions of the sacred text upon the 
houses they see around them, conceive that, Jesus being in an 
upper room, the men removed the slates or tiles which covered 
it, together with the laths below, and by this opening let their 
friend down into the room. There are several objections to 
this ; but this unanswerable one will suffice, — that in the East 
roofs are not so constructed. Still there is a vague impression, 
that " somehow" a hole was made in the roof, through which 
the paralytic was passed down into the room in which our 
Lord was. 

But the construction of the roofs in those parts, which we 
know from Josephus to have been the same in our Lord's time 
as at present, renders this impossible ; or if not absolutely im- 
possible, at least the last thing that any one could think of. 

The roofs are made of successive layers of beams, mats, 
branches, and leaves of trees, mould, and trodden clay. Now, 
to make a hole through this mass, would not only have been 
a difficult and laborious operation, consuming much time, but 
would most assuredly have overwhelmed the people sitting in 
the room below with heaps of rubbish, and choked them with 
clouds of dust. There is another kind of roof formed of small 
brick domes, the intervals between which are filled up with 
earth, &c, so as to give a level surface to the house-top. To 
open one of these would have been an operation of still greater 
labor and difficulty, and certainly not less dangerous to those 
below. Besides, we urge that our Lord was not in a room, — 
for there He could not be heard by the crowd, which mani- 
festly thronged the court even to the outer doors. 

Some who feel this objection as to the room, and as to the 
roof, place our Saviour in the court itself, and suppose that it 
was covered with an awning to screen it from the sun ; and 
then go on to tell us, that the men being on the roof, lifted up 
the portion of the awning over the place where our Lord stood, 
and let the paralytic down to Him. But this explanation is 
founded on the usages of a country, such as Barbary, where 
the galleries are not usually seen to shade the inner sides of 
the courts of the houses, and where, consequently, an awning 



260 THIRTY-FIFTH WEEK THURSDAY. 

is employed for that purpose. But such awnings are even 
there used only in the heat of summer ; and it can be shown 
that the time of this transaction was in early spring, not long 
before the passover — when no awnings are used, even in those 
quarters, and in those houses, where it is the custom to spread 
them out for shade in summer. 

We return, therefore, to our house, with galleries ; and if 
there were such, it is evident that our Lord would not have 
stood in the court itself, when He could have addressed the 
people with so much more advantage to them and to himself 
from the gallery above. 

Being then in the gallery, the course the men had to take 
was plain and simple. They had only to take up two or three 
of the loosely attached boards forming the covering of the gal- 
lery, and there was a clear and sufficient opening through 
which to let their friend down to the feet of our Saviour. This 
we believe is what they did ; and it seems to us to furnish a 
sufficient and satisfactory explanation of a transaction which 
has seemed to many so difficult, and which some have been 
hardy enough to pronounce incredible. 

Jesus was struck by the faith in his power to heal, which 
these persons had evinced by the contrivances to which they 
had resorted, and by the pains which they had taken, to pro- 
cure for their helpless friend access to Him. He was willing 
to reward that faith by a greater cure than had been asked. 
He saw that the man labored under a distressing consciousness 
of sin, by which it is very possible that his bodily disease had 
been much aggravated. "We certainly know that all men are 
sinners, and therefore see nothing remarkable in this man being 
thus distressed, or that he should stand in the need of pardon 
for his sins. But looking at the matter from the Jewish point 
of view, which this is not, we must recollect, that the Jews 
considered diseases, especially privative diseases, as undoubtedly 
intended in punishment for sins committed by the sufferer. 
This view is often alluded to in Scripture ; and we indeed meet 
with it as early as the time of Job. Apart from this, a Jew 
of our Lord's time, who paid due attention to all the observ- 



THE HOUSETOP. 261 

ances which the law required, or which the rabbis imposed, 
was but little apt to regard himself as a sinner. But under 
this view, a man in a diseased condition must often have seri- 
ous and searching thoughts of the sins which he supposed had 
brought him to that condition which he regarded as a testi- 
mony of the Lord's anger against him. If he grew well in 
due course by the use of ordinary means, he might suppose the 
Lord's anger had passed away ; but in the present case, the 
man may have feared that, by resorting to an extraordinary 
means of cure, he might lack that comforting persuasion ; and 
if his feelings in regard to sin were as sensitive as we have sup- 
posed, he may for a moment have doubted whether he ought 
not to endure his disease, till a natural cure, though at a dis- 
tant day, should bring to him the blessed conviction that his 
sins were forgiven, rather than resort to means of instant cure, 
with which, so far as he knew, no such satisfying assurance 
could be connected. 

It remained for Jesus to show him, that, seeing he was truly 
penitent, the assurance of forgiveness need not be dissociated 
from the means by which, he now sought relief; and that it 
was in His power to give him both — the pardon and the 
healing. 

He therefore said to him, " Man, thy sins be forgiven thee." 
This was more startling than anything He had ever yet said 
to those who were unable to see the Divinity in Him. The 
tribes who were present received it grievously. They mut- 
tered one to another that this was surely blasphemy, for who 
could forgive sins but God ? The reasoning was in itself just 
in its principles, but false in its results. None could forgive 
sins but God ; and for a man to pretend to exercise this Divine 
prerogative, were blasphemy. But all that Jesus had said and 
done showed him to hold a Divine commission. One who held 
such, a commission could not blaspheme ; and when, therefore, 
He claimed the right to exercise a Divine prerogative, He 
claimed to be more than man — He claimed to be God. And 
in Him that claim was not blasphemy, though it would have 
been denounced vehemently as such if it had been perceived. 



262 THIRTY-FIFTH WEEK FRIDAY, 

Jesus, perceiving their thoughts, which were open to Him as a 
book, told them that it was indeed easy to say, " Thy sins are 
forgiven," for there could be no immediate or manifest sign to 
show that they had been attended with any result ; but He 
would now show bywords, followed by a manifestly miraculous 
sign, that He claimed no powers which He could not establish, 
or which did not properly belong to Him. So He said to the 
sufferer before him — "Arise, take up thy bed, and go unto 
thine house !" and no sooner were these words spoken, than 
the helpless man sprang to his feet, lifted upon his head the 
mattress on which he had lain, and strode with vigorous limbs 
out of the court, through the astonished and admiring crowd, 
which now instinctively made way for him. 

As to the learned doctors and scribes, their wonder at this 
most signal miracle overpowered for the time their indignation 
at the antecedent declaration from our Saviour ; but we may 
believe that the whole transaction tended to deepen the jealousy 
with which the Prophet of Nazareth began to be regarded by 
the class to which they belonged. 



THIRTY-FIFTH WEEK.— FRIDAY. 

THE PUBLICANS. MATTHEW IX. 9; MARK II. 14, 15; LUKJff 

v. 27-32. 

There is nothing more evident throughout the gospels than 
the scorn and detestation in which a body of people called 
"the Publicans" were held by the Jewish people. 

Publican was a Roman title (publicanus) belonging to the 
collectors of the public revenue, and was applied equally to the 
Romans of rank and character, who held offices analogous to 
those of farmers of the revenue and commissioners of taxes, 
and to the natives in the subject provinces of the empire, who 
in subordinate capacities were content to earn their livelihood 
by extracting from their countrymen the tributes due to their 



THE PUBLICANS. 263 

foreign masters. The latter are the " publicans" of the New 
Testament ; and from the frequency with which they are men* 
tioned it would seem that, although doubtless the superior 
officers were Romans, the actual collectors were principally 
Jews. 

It has not been our lot to be acquainted with any country, 
the inhabitants of which are so alive to their obligations to the 
state, as to receive with pleasure and regard with respect the 
collectors of the revenue, under whatever name they may come, 
whether tax-gatherers^ rate-collectors, excisemen, custom-house 
officers, or tollmen. It always has been thus ; and it always 
has been and -is thus, in an eminent degree, in the East, where 
the antipathy to anything like a regular and periodical exaction 
for government objects, goes far beyond the dogged churlish- 
ness with which the drilled nations of the West meet the more 
complicated demands upon them. This may, among other 
causes, be owing to the fact, that the Eastern tax-gatherer feels 
quite at liberty to use his stick freely upon the person of a 
tardy, inadequate, or too reluctant tax-payer. 

But there was never any people, eastern or western, ancient 
or modern, who held taxation in so much dislike, and tax-gath- 
erers in so much abhorrence, as the Jews did in the time of our 
Lord. The reasons were somewhat peculiar to themselves. 
The text, Deut. xvii. 15, was so interpreted as to imply that 
the law forbade the payment of tribute to strangers. It was 
also held that Israel must ever be of right a reigning nation; 
and all believed that it would soon, under King Messiah, become 
a glorious and triumphant one. The taxes imposed by the 
Romans were therefore regarded with disgust and impatient 
abhorrence, as badges of the national dishonor; and those 
Jews who made themselves the instruments of this disgrace to 
their country, were accounted the vilest of the vile, the scum 
and offscouring of the earth. They became in fact outcasts 
from all society except that of their own degraded class. No 
decent man would partake of their food, entertain them at his 
own table, or enter their houses. They were not allowed to 
enter the synagogues or the temple, or to take any part in 



264 THIRTY-FIFTH WEEK FRIDAY. 

public prayers. No offerings from them were even accepted 
at the temple ; they were not allowed to hold any office, even 
the lowest, in the courts of judicature ; and in these courts 
their testimony was not allowed in any causes. Hence it be- 
came as a proverb applicable to one who was to be shunned 
or cast forth, " Let him be to thee as an heathen man and a 
publican." (Matt, xviii. 17.) 

This public stigma upon the office inevitably reacted upon 
the officers. An office, laboring under such odium, and in- 
volving such great social penalties, could not be undertaken by 
respectable men, who had regard for their character and honor. 
But there will always be found reckless men willing to under- 
take any employment, and who would find a certain pleasur- 
able excitement in the opportunities of avenging upon society 
the hate of society against themselves ; needy men, to whom 
constant and well paid employment will afford ample compen- 
sation for the " scoffs and scorns of the time ;" and grasping 
men, to whom opportunities of gain from undue exactions in 
the exercise of their office, supplied inducements which the 
public scorn could not countervail. 

Hence the character of this body speedily came down to a 
par with the public estimation of it ; and the publicans were a 
sort of heartless rascals, who met the pointed finger of scorn 
with that of defiance, and were in all respects fully deserving 
of the social exclusion to which they were doomed by public 
opinion. But there were exceptions, and bright ones, though 
they were rare ; and it was not to be supposed that our Lord 
would sanction by his example the social ban upon men who 
had souls to be saved, and whose employment had nothing in 
it radically evil, and might be worthily and honestly discharged, 

He therefore defied the prejudices of the time by treating 
publicans as He did other men, associating freely with them 
when occasion presented, and more than once conferring upon 
them signal honor. For this He was several times stigma- 
tized as himself " a publican," and " a friend of publicans and 
sinners." 

It was, therefore, probably not without a special object, that 



THE POOL OF BETHESDA. 265 

He made choice of his next apostle from this body. It was 
frequent in that age for a person to bear two names, and this 
publican, the son of Alphseus, was called Levi, and also Mat- 
thew, which is the same as the Old Testament name of Mat- 
thias. 

This publican is the evangelist to whose honored hand we 
owe the first gospel. 

He was sitting by " the receipt of custom," and as it appears 
that it was not in the town, or at the gate, but by the sea-shore, 
it is presumed that he was one of these inferior officers em- 
ployed to collect the dues levied upon the fish brought to 
shore, and upon the vegetables and fire-wood received from 
the other side of the lake. When Jesus passed by He called 
to him saying, " Follow me," and " he left all, and rose up, and 
followed Him." The same evening Matthew, who had a house 
in Capernaum, gave an entertainment to his new Master and 
brother disciples ; and doubtless strict Pharisaic opinion felt 
itself outraged, scarcely less by our Lord going to a publican's 
house to eat with him, than by his choosing such a man for 
one of his most honored servants and closest companions. 
However, it may be observed that Matthew was no longer a 
publican when he had quitted the office, though even to have 
been a publican was in those days reproach enough. 



THIRTY-FIFTH WEEK.— SATURDAY. 

THE POOL OF BETHESDA JOHN V. 1-4. 

Following- the course of our Lord's history, we next find 
Him again at Jerusalem, to take part in the celebration of the 
second Passover* since the commencement of his ministry. 

* St. John says only " a feast of the Jews ;" and that it was the 
Passover, has been shown by many convincing arguments not necessary 
to be produced here ; but a convenient summary of which may be found 
H Dr. Robinson's Harmony of the Four Gospels, pp. 190-192 : Boston 
1845. 

VOL. III. 12 



266 THIRTY-FIFTH WEEK SATURDAY. 

St. John states that there was " at Jerusalem, by the sheep 
market, a pool, which is called in the Hebrew tongue Bethesda, 
having five porches." There is no word in the original Greek 
/>f this text answering to "market;" and therefore, instead of 
that word, any other better suited to complete the sense, might 
be substituted. Some do substitute the word gate ; seeing 
that a " sheep gate" is frequently mentioned by Nehemiah, 
while there is no sheep market mentioned in Scripture, nor by 
any Jewish writer. The sheep gate may have been so called, 
because it was the gate by which sheep were brought into the 
the city ; but we are not aware of any such custom in the 
East, as that of bringing live sheep or cattle into a town for 
sale. They are usually sold in the early morning outside the 
towns, near one of the gates ; and this is always the same gate, 




that people bringing cattle from the country may know to 
which gate to take them for sale. The sheep gate might also 
thus be the sheep market. Some complete the sense by joining 
the words " sheep" and " pool," and make it the " sheep pool," 
and suppose it may have been a pool in which the sheep used 
in the temple sacrifices were washed. But it was not required 
to wash the victims before they were slaughtered, and for the 
subsequent washing provision was made in the temple itself. 
We may conclude, therefore, that it was the sheep gate, which 
was also the sheep market. 



THE POOL OF BETHESDA. 26 Y 

Much search has been made for this pool of Bethesda ; for 
there seems no reason why it should not still exist. It is 
thought to have been found in a now dry basin or reservoir 
which lies under the north wall of Temple Mount — so close 
under the wall, indeed, that the south side of the reservoir 
seems to form part of it. This basin is very large — no less 
than 300 feet long by 130 broad, and its depth is 75 feet, with- 
out accounting for the rubbish which has for ages been accu- 
mulating in it — so that it must have been anciently much 
deeper. Although this basin has long been dry, it is plain 
that it was formerly a " pool" or reservoir, as it is cased over 
internally with small stones, plastered with cement. The west 
side is thus built up like the rest, except towards the south- 
west corner, where two lofty vaults extend westward, and the 
traveller is told that these are two of the " five porches" mention- 
ed by the evangelist. 

The question of the identity of this " pool" with that of 
Bethesda, is not one to which we mean to invite the attention 
of the reader. Suffice it to say, that it seems more likely to 
..cave been that pool than anything else that can now be found 
m Jerusalem. 

The name of this pool, Bethesda, signifies " house," or 
" abode of mercy." And we are at no loss for the reason. It 
had been observed that, at particular seasons, a peculiar com- 
motion took place in this water, and that, for a short time after 
such commotion, it possessed such strongly sanative properties, 
that those who were foremost in getting into the water, were 
cured of the diseases with which they were afflicted. In all 
this, so far, there is nothing we find any difficulty in explaining. 
The mercy of God has dispersed over the earth many health 
giving fountains, whose waters offer effectual remedy for dis 
eases which no physician can cure. This pool of Bethesda does 
not seem to have had any such properties in its ordinary or 
quiescent state, but at certain seasons it received the overflow 
of some hidden but highly salubrious spring or springs, causing 
a bubbling commotion at the point of influx, and whoever step- 
ped in there, and laved his body in those healthful waters, be- 



268 THIRTY-FIFTH WEEK SATURDAY. 

fore their effect was lost by diffusion through the large pool 
into which they came, was healed of his disease. 

Thus far, all might seem plain enough. But a difficulty has 
been found in the declaration of the evangelist, that " an angel 
went down into the pool and troubled the water."* It is not 
here to be understood, as stated that the angel did this visibly, 
or was seen to do it ; but that the peculiar property imparted 
to the pool at particular seasons, was by the special favor of 
God, through the ministry of an angel. It was the custom of 
the Jews to ascribe all such favors, and all extraordinary mani- 
festations in what we call "nature," to the ministry of the an- 
gels of God ; and this was a fine religious feeling which they 
did well to cultivate, and which we do ill to neglect. It is a 
custom sanctioned by the sacred writers,! and so sanctioned, 
must be received as true. It is supposed by some, that it is 
mentioned by John merely as the current impressions of the 
Jews, and that he does not himself avouch it. If that were the 
case, he would most assuredly have said so, for no sacred wri- 
ter is more careful than John to distinguish things incorrectlv 
reported from his own statements. It was certainly the opinion 
of the Jews in this case ; for, observing effects so remarkable, 
they would naturally ascribe it to God through the ministry 
of an angel. If the notion was true, there is no reason why 
John should repudiate it ; and if not true, there is every reason 
why he should not appear to sanction it. But he does this 
without limitation, he makes it his own, and the question ceases 
to be of any consequence, whether it is stated as his own ex- 
planation or that of the Jews. We therefore receive it, because 
in either way it is his statement, and because it is in accordance 
with all that Scripture teaches. There was clearly something 

* This clause does not exist in all the manuscript copies of Scripture, 
and has hence been rejected by some as of no authority — as an inter- 
polation. But it is found in many manuscript copies of the New Tes- 
tament, and its genuineness is maintained by the best textual critics, 
besides that it is largely authenticated by the citations or references of 
ancient Christian writers. We therefore take it as it stands. 

f See, among other instances, Matt.iv. 11 ; xviii. 10 ; Luke xvi. 22 ; 
Acts vii. 53 • Gal. iii. 19 ; Heb. i. 13. 



THE IMPOTENT MAN. 269 

more at work than the ordinary operations of nature. "Was 
ever any natural spring or fountain heard of, any bath or pool, 
which had or could have instant effect in producing the cure 
of such diseases, as those of the persons who are described as 
awaiting there for the moving of the waters — " impotent folk, 
blind, halt, withered" ? What then hinders that we should be- 
lieve that, in the beneficent providence of God, an angel should 
be sent to unlock the sealed fountains, and give intensity of 
healing power to their streams ? What hinders, but that un- 
spiritual hardness which is growing upon the world as it gets 
old, and renders it unwilling to believe the Scripture doctrines, 
that the universe is replete with spiritual beings, employed in 
God's high service, and delighting in missions of mercy to 
mankind ? 



THE IMPOTENT MAN. JOHN V. 5-4:1. 

When Jesus passed by the pool of Bethesda, He saw a 
crowd of miserable objects lying about, waiting for the moving 
of the waters. His compassionate eyes were especially drawn 
towards one poor creature who had been a helpless cripple for 
thirty-eight years ; and whose quiet but intelligent face ex- 
pressed no eagerness of expectation, but had settled into the 
sober patience of hope deferred. Still he had no idea of regard- 
ing a cure as possible from any other source than from these 
waters ; and when, therefore, our pitying Lord, knowing his 
melancholy case, asked, " Wilt thou be made whole I" natu- 
rally misconceiving the question, he simply began to relate, 
that being from his helpless condition unable to reach the 
water, and no one being willing, in the excitement and struggle 
of the moment, to put him in when the waters were troubled, 
he had never been able to secure the benefit for which he had 
waited so long. The reply of Jesus was conveyed in the most 
welcome words that ever fell upon the ear of man, — "Rise, 



270 THIRTY-SIXTH WEEK SUNDAY. 

take up thy bed, and walk !" What a command was that to 
a man who had for nearly forty years — perhaps all, or almost 
all, his life — lain in that forlorn condition, during which his 
poor limbs had forgotten what walking meant, if they ever 
knew ! Yet at that word, the man, radiant with gladness, 
arose, and bore off with firm step and healthy tread, the bed 
which had so long been the companion of his sad days and 
weary nights. 

This was the Sabbath-day ; and the restored cripple had not 
gone far before he encountered those who told him, with horror 
on their faces, that it was unlawful to carry a burden on the 
Sabbath-day. His answer was, " He that made me whole, the 
same said unto me, Take up thy bed and walk." His meaning 
evidently was, that the order of the person who had healed 
him, was quite sufficient to account for and justify his proceed- 
ing. Then they asked, " What man is that which said unto 
thee, Take up thy bed and walk ?" One would think that, in 
astonishment at such a miracle, their question would have been, 
" What man is He who healed thee ?" and that they would 
have lost in that all thought of the man's bed. But it was the 
miracle they overlooked and thrust aside, regardful only of the 
alleged infraction of the Sabbath-day. 

The man had no previous acquaintance with the person of 
Jesus, and had soon lost sight of Him in the crowd. He could 
not, therefore, furnish the information they demanded ; but 
meeting his Benefactor a few days after, he learned who He 
was, and hastened to inform the questioners that u it was Jesus 
who had made him whole,"— in which we observe his mind 
dwelling exclusively on that part of the case which they had 
put out of sight. He thought only of the healing : they only 
of the bed being carried on the Sabbath-day. This seems to 
us to show, that the man, in his simplicity of heart, conceived 
that these persons only wanted to know his Healer, in order to 
render Him honor for the great work He had done. But it 
was far otherwise ; for the Jews were so exasperated that they 
began to persecute Jesus, and sought to bring Him to his death 
as a Sabbath-breaker. This gave our Lord occasion to deliver 



THE IMPOTENT MAN. 2*71 

an impressive discourse. As it is not our object to expound 
our Lord's discourses, we need only state, that the general pur- 
port or collective meaning of this one was to declare, that there 
existed a perfect unity of mind, and will, and operation, be- 
tween the Father and the Son. The works of the Son were 
really Divine works ; so that neither could He be justly ac- 
cused of Sabbath- violation for working on the Sabbath-day, nor 
of blasphemy in making himself equal with God.* 

Of this, some very plain declarations made by Him in this 
discourse had led them to accuse Him ; He admitted the in- 
terpretation put upon his words, but denied that the claim im 
puted was any blasphemy in Him, and proved that it was not. 

In the course of this address, after urging them to " search 
the Scriptures" for the ancient testimonies concerning Him, and 
which would establish all that He claimed, and prove all that 
He asserted, He broke forth into the piteous exclamation, 
" Ye will not come to Me, that ye may have life." It was to 
his enemies who panted for his life that He spoke ; yet, seeing 
the perilous state in which they stood, He declares his longings 
for their salvation, and laments that they will not come to 
Him to receive it. Life can be found nowhere else but in 
Him ; and He stands ready with both hands open to bestow it : 

" He is able, He is willing, 
Doubt no more." 

Why, then, is it that sinners hang back from Him, and do not 
rather hasten with glad feet to claim the blessings He has to 
bestow? He exacts no hard conditions — He requires only 
that we come to Him — come as lost sinners, who know that, 
if they are saved, they must owe their salvation to Him alone ; 
and are willing to receive that salvation as a gift from his 
hands, purchased for them by a price no less costly than his 
blood. 

The only reason why sinners remain unsaved is, that they 
will not go to Him, or will not go to Him in the only way by 

* See Dr. John Brown's Expositions of the Sayings and Discourses 
of our Lord,'u 86. 



272 THIRTY-SIXTH WEEK MONDAY. A 

which access to Him can be gained. Some will not go at all 
— some will go any way but by that strait and narrow way 
that alone leadeth unto life. These things must be mysteries 
to angels, who have not known sin. If a man were to stand 
at Charing Cross, crying out that he would give half a crown 
to all that came for it — what rushing and striving there would 
be, and what eager crowds of people would presently pour 
down from Pall Mall and Martin's Lane, and rush up from the 
Strand and from Whitehall. But here, when One greater 
than all kings stands forth to offer gifts more precious than 
crowns and sceptres — the gifts of salvation, of eternal life — 
sinners feel no strong attraction towards him — no really earnest 
desire for his blessings. Many pass heedlessly by — some do 
turn aside, but seek to get near by any of the thousand ways 
that lead not to Him, and soon find themselves " in wandering- 
mazes lost." Others move so slowly on, with reverted glances 
to the world they profess to have forsaken, that life's short 
journey ends before they have reached the Christ towards 
whom they have been travelling so wearily and long. 

How can these things be % 

Alas, it is sin — sin, and nothing else, that creates all this 
coldness of the soul towards Christ. Not between them ; for 
He has no coldness towards souls. He still invites. He still 
cries — " Come." He still stretches forth his gift-laden hands 
all day to a disobedient and gainsaying people ; and still He 
knows no grief but that they will not come to Him that they 
may have life. 



THIRTY-SIXTH WEEK.— MONDAY. 

THE SABBATH-DAY. 
MATT. XII. 1-14; MARK II. 23 III. 6 ; LUKE VI. 1-11. 

The Sabbath was a Divine institution ; and as such it could 
not be abrogated, nor its prescribed observance altered, or 
modified, by any authority less than Divine. When our Lord, 



THE SABBATH-DAY. 273 

therefore, claimed absolute power over the Sabbath-day — when 
He declared that the Son of man was " Lord even of the Sab- 
bath-day," He claimed no less than Divine authority, and was 
understood to do so. He might have abrogated it wholly if 
He had seen fit pbut his purpose seems to have been no more 
than to bring it back to its primary purpose as a day of free 
and blessed rest ; relieving it from the special observances and 
restrictions which the law of Moses had imposed, and which, 
being no longer needed in the service of the more spiritual 
nature which Christ introduced, were to be counted among 
things that were old and had passed away. 

Yet it is to be observed, that while Christ claimed this ab 
solute power, his actual operations, so far as brought under 
our notice, did not affect any one of the Mosaic ordinances, as 
plainly and literally understood. We see Jesus again and 
again accused of Sabbath- violation for performing certain acts 
on the seventh-day. But if we turn to the code of Moses in 
search of the laws alleged to be violated, we cannot find them 
— they are not there. The fact is, that in this, as in other 
matters, the letter of the law had, in our Lord's time, been 
overlaid by a mass of traditionary explanations, extensions, 
and applications, every one of which was regarded as of equal 
authority with the letter of the law itself, and every transgres- 
sion equally an act of Sabbath violation, and equally liable to 
be visited with the penalties of that offence. These traditions 
only did our Lord's Sabbath acts infringe. But of these tra- 
ditions He always expressed his utter disregard, and often his 
reprobation. And his argument, in answer to the charges 
brought against Him in this respect, was — either that the par- 
ticular act was not a violation of the law of Moses, but was in 
perfect accordance with its spirit, or that the power which the 
Father had given to Him was not subject to the limitations of 
that law. v 

The case which has already passed under our notice, that 
of the man carrying his bed through the streets on the Sab- 
bath-day by our Lord's order, makes the nearest approach to 
a real infraction of the law ; and the charge founded on it is, 

12* 



274 THIRTY-SIXTH WEEK MONDAY. 

therefore, met by our Lord with an assertion of his superior 
authority. There is, indeed, no law in the books of Moses for- 
bidding the carrying of a bed, or, more generally, of carrying 
a burden. But that the law was so understood by those whose 
authority we cannot dispute, is clear from Neh. xiii. 15-19, 
and from Jeremiah xvii.. 22. The ground of this is obvious. 
All work on the Sabbath-day was forbidden ; but the principal 
work of men who labor was the carrying of burdens, conse- 
quently the carrying of any burden was unlawful. Our Lord, 
therefore, replied to this only by an assertion of his authority, 
evinced, as it was, by the miracle He had performed. But, in 
fact, the carrying of his bed was anything but work; it was a 
joy and a pleasure to the man who had been bed-ridden so 
long. It was a triumph. He led captivity captive, as he 
bounded through the streets bearing the bed which had so 
long borne him. By this act, therefore, our Lord seems to 
have evinced his intention, and certainly He avowed his 
authority, to abrogate the Jewish Sabbath as such, and espe- 
cially as it was then understood. Some have thought He in- 
tended to try the man's faith by healing him on the Sabbath- 
day, and by commanding him to carry his bed ; both which 
acts he must have believed to be unlawful. We doubt that 
Jesus required any man to wound his conscience by doing 
what he believed to be sinful ; and it has escaped notice that 
if Christ healed the man on the Sabbath-day, the man was 
lying by the pool of Bethesda on that day for the express pur- 
pose of being healed. 

But let us turn to another instance which occurred on 
probably the next Sabbath. Jesus was walking through the 
corn fields with his disciples, when the latter, being hungry, 
began to pluck some of the ears of corn, and eat the grain, 
rubbing it out between their hands. This was objected to as 
an infringement of the Sabbath. Did this lie in the walk, the 
gathering of the ears, the rubbing them out, or the eating the 
grain ? It was not the walking in the fields, for the rules to 
which we have referred allowed this to the distance of 2,000 
cubits (reckoned as so many paces) beyond the limits of a 



THE SABBATH-DAY. 2*75 

town, this being called " a Sabbath day's journey." It was 
not plucking the ears of corn in another's field, for custom 
allowed, and still allows it. Dr. Robinson mentions that his 
people did this frequently (in Palestine), and ate it in the same 
manner as the apostles ; and, when questioned on the matter, 
they said : " this was an old custom, and no one would speals 
against it : they were supposed to be hungry, and it was al- 
lowed as a charity." The mere eating could not, of course, be 
construed as unlawful. 

What, then, was ? 

Simply the plucking the ears and rubbing the grain out 
between the hands. The act was thus made out to be an 
infringement of the Sabbath. Servile work was forbidden on 
the Sabbath-day. Reaping is servile work ; and he who reaps 
on the Sabbath-day, however little, is a Sabbath-breaker. But 
plucking ears of corn is a kind of reaping ; therefore, even to 
pluck anything from the springing of his own fruit, makes one 
a Sabbath-breaker. Again, rubbing ears between the hands 
to get out the grain, is a species of threshing ; and he who 
does this, is therefore a Sabbath-breaker. 

After this transaction, and after our Lord had replied to 
the objections of those by whom it was witnessed, He pro- 
ceeded to the synagogue. There was in the congregation a 
man whose hand was withered. Observing that this man had 
attracted the attention of Jesus, and being aware of what was 
likely to follow,- — the Pharisees, who had now become his 
avowed enemies, determined to raise a discussion beforehand, 
that, seeing their former attempts against Him had been frus- 
trated, probably from want of sufficiently definite evidence, 
they might extract from his own words matter on which to 
found an accusation against Him. This they did man}^ times, 
but He never fell into the snares thus laid for Him ; his dis- 
creet, wise, and uncompromising answers, being not only 
unassailable, but tending rather to their own confusion than 
to his. 

The question on this occasion was, " Is it lawful to heal on 
the Sabbath-day ?" If He said, No, He would condemn him- 



27 (3 THIRTY-SIXTH WEEK MONDAY. 

self; if He said, Yes, they could denounce Him for that opinion 
joined to his corresponding acts ; for the traditions made 
healing on the seventh-day to be a violation of its sanctity. 
A man might not, indeed, do anything for himself, or another 
for him, which might contribute to his own cure of a disease 
on the Sabbath-day, except in a matter of extreme danger, 
when it was allowable for him to profane the Sabbath by doing 
whatever the cure required. But it will be observed, that 
most of our Lord's Sabbath cures, were of diseases not imme- 
diately dangerous, and therefore not open to this exception. 
The reply which our Lord made to the question was unanswer- 
able, and ought to have filled these heartless hypocrites with 
confusion. He reminded them that the law allowed a man, 
whose sheep had fallen into a pit on the Sabbath-day, to lay 
hold on it and lift it out. " How much, then, is a man better 
than a sheep ?" He asked. There was a sudden pause, but no 
answer. Then, looking round upon them with indignation, 
being grieved for the hardness of their hearts, He turned to 
the afflicted man, and said, " Stretch forth thine hand!" and 
immediately he held forth his hand, and it was instantly 
restored, and became as free from disease as the other. 

The Pharisees were highly exasperated at this plain and 
significant rebuke, and indeed with the whole proceeding, and 
they left the synagogue with the full purpose of finding means 
for his destruction. It must have seemed to them difficult to 
accomplish this under the usual forms of law. Had He not 
set at nought all those traditions which in their hearts they 
honored above the law itself? Had He not even assumed the 
power of dispensing with the law ? Had not this obscure man 
of Galilee, as He seemed to them, dared to institute equalizing 
comparisons between himself and the great and ineffable 
Jehovah ? Had He not plainly avowed himself the Messiah — 
not, as such, to lead Israel to terrestrial glories — but as such 
to give spiritual life, to exercise power over disease and death, 
and to sit on the throne of judgment at the last day ? 

They were, however, foiled in their immediate object by our 
Lord's withdrawal into Galilee. But after this memorable 



THE TWELVE APOSTLES. -W 277 

visit to Jerusalem, the Pharisaic party never lost sight of Jesus, 
nor ceased to watch his footsteps with the most hostile inten- 
tions. Henceforth we find every opportunity taken of detecting 
Him in further violation of their statutes, and every pretext 
laid hold of for inflaming the popular mind against Him for 
his neglect, or open defiance of their ordinances. 



THIRTY-SIXTH WEEK— TUESDAY. 

THE TWELVE APOSTLES. 

matt. x. 1-42 ; mark in. 7-19 ; luke vi. 13-49 ; MATT. V.-VIL 

On returning to Galilee, Jesus proceeded in the first 
instance to the Lake of Tiberias, where, as we have seen, He 
had fixed his head-quarters. Here He might at any time, by 
crossing the lake, place himself beyond the reach not only of 
the Jewish rulers at Jerusalem, but of the tetrarch of Galilee. 
Herod, however, is supposed to have been now and for some 
time previously absent at Rome ; and if he were not, there 
was little to excite his hostility in the proceedings of a religious 
teacher who expressly disavowed any political objects ; and he 
had little inducement to make himself the instrument of the 
hostile purposes of the Sanhedrim at Jerusalem, especially as 
he had already incurred more popular odium than he liked for 
his treatment of John, whom he still detained in prison. 

At our Lord's desire, a boat* was kept in attendance, in 
which He could at any time proceed to whatever quarter He 
desired, and on board of which he could avoid the pressure of 
the multitudes that followed Him about, or from whose deck 
He could, as formerly, conveniently address the crowd upon 
the shore. In a little while, however, Jesus quitted this neigh- 
borhood for another tour in Galilee. 

Previous to this tour, our Lord, although He had probably 
always some disciples with Him, had not yet organized a body 
who were to become his constant adherents, his commissioned 
witnesses, and the appointed teachers of all that they might 



2*78 THIRTY-SIXTH WEEK TUESDAY. 

learn from Him, or that thereafter might be taught to them 
by the Spirit from on high. Such a body He now appointed, 
selecting from among his followers twelve whom he called 
apostles ; and that they might be able to speak with authority 
when he sent them forth to preach, He imparted to them some 
measure of his own miraculous powers. They might heal dis- 
eases and cast out devils ; but as the power of raising the dead 
-^ is not mentioned, it was probably not imparted ; indeed Jesus 
himself had not yet shown his own power to this extent. 

With seven of these apostles we are already acquainted, 
Peter and his brother Andrew, John and his brother James, 
Philip, Bartholomew (otherwise Nathaniel), and Matthew. 
The others, to whom we have not previously been introduced, 
are these— Thomas or Didymus, both names meaning a twin, 
the former in Syriac and the latter in Greek ; another, James, 
the son of Alphseus (otherwise Cleophas), whose wife seems to 
have been a sister of the mother of Jesus, so that this James 
was our Lord's cousin-german ; Judas or Jude, called also 
" Lebbseus, whose surname was Thaddeus" (the latter being 
the Syriac for Judas, and the former perhaps from the place 
of birth), who was also another cousin, being brother to this 
James. Simon, called "the Canaanite" to distinguish him 
from Simon Peter, was not so named, as some have fancied, 
from his Canaanitish descent, nor from the village of Cana, but 
from a Hebrew word signifying a zealot, whence he is some- 
times called Simon Zelotes, a name which indicates that he 
had belonged to that Jewish sect called Zealots, which was 
animated by a most bitter and uncompromising zeal against 
the Roman rule, as a thing accursed, unlawful, and by every 
means to be put down. If Simon was really a member of this 
fierce sect, it was' a great change for him to be placed thus in- 
timately near to Him who was " meek and lowly in heart." 
The last of the twelve was Judas, distinguished from the other 
Judas by the surname of Iscariot, taken probably from the name 
of his native village. 

We know nothing of the antecedent history of the five last 
named apostles ; but there can be no doubt that they were of 



THE TWELVE APOSTLES. 279 

the same class as the others. It is usual to call them as a 
body "peasants;" but if by that term is understood such as 
husbandmen and shepherds, this does not seem to have been 
the case. Those of whom we do know anything were fisher- 
men, and dwelt in towns, and probably some others were of 
the same calling, and all of the same class, men earning their 
living by some trade, — " workingmen," in short, as distin- 
guished among ourselves from " laborers" and " peasants." 
Our Lord himself had been born into this class, and till He 
took his place as a public teacher, was known only as a work- 
ing man of Nazareth. This class, intelligent everywhere, is 
especially so in the East, where the language of the working 
man is about as good, and his manners as polite, as those of 
any rank ; and public opinion quite recognizes his fitness to dis- 
charge becomingly the duties of any station to which he may 
attain, or of any office he may undertake. Hence in the East 
no surprise is felt at a working man coming forward in any 
public capacity, political or religious, which with us might seem 
a strange thing. Thus we see that no one expresses surprise 
at the apostles appearing as public teachers. Persons of this 
class received a good common and religious education, the 
terms being with them synonymous, education being sim- 
ply regarded as an instrument of religious knowledge. They 
were taught to read and write, and instructed in the laws of 
Moses and in the history of the Old Testament, and those who 
were attentive might gain a good knowledge of the other parts 
of Scripture from the Sabbath-readings in the synagogue. This 
supplied in part the deficiency of books, for, being copied by 
hand, and therefore consuming much time and labor, which 
had to be paid for in the price, books were scarce and expen- 
sive, and none but the rich could afford for their own use so 
costly a possession as a copy of the entire Bible, though copies 
of particular books might not be beyond the reach of working 
men. 

We may be reminded that the Jews expressed surprise at 
the knowledge possessed by Jesus, " How knoweth this man 
letters, having never learned," John vii. 15 ; and by Peter and 



280 THIRTY-SIXTH WEEK WEDNESDAY. 

John, seeing they were " unlearned and ignorant men." But 
this means simply that they had not received what was con- 
sidered a high theological education, which added to the com- 
mon education such as we have described, a critical knowledge 
of Hebrew, an acquaintance with the received interpretations 
of the law, and an intimacy with the traditions of the fathers ; 
and whoever had not received this education in the schools, 
was regarded ^is an uneducated man by the arrogant Pharisees 
of that day, whatever other knowledge he might possess. 

The choice of the twelve by our Lord to be his ministers 
and followers, furnished an appropriate occasion for a public 
declaration respecting the spiritual nature of his kingdom, and 
the life and character required of those who would become his 
true followers. He therefore ascended an eminence that was 
near, and his disciples being gathered around Him, with the 
multitudes spread out beyond, He delivered that impressive 
discourse known as " the Sermon on the Mount." In this dis- 
course our Lord showed that the righteousness in which the 
Scribes and Pharisees vaunted, and which the nation generally 
regarded as the perfection of holiness, went for nothing as a 
qualification for that "kingdom of God" which He came to 
establish. He required something deeper, better, more spirit- 
ual ; He required that those who came to Him should give 
Him their hearts to be filled with holy and blessed things. The 
germ of this discourse is to be found in the words, " Verily, 
verily, I say unto you, Except your righteousness exceed the 
righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees, ye shall not see the 
kingdom of God." 



THIRTY-SIXTH WEEK— WEDNESDAY. 

THE DYING AND THE DEAD. MATT. VIII. 5-13 ; LUKE VII. 1-1 7. 

The Sermon on the Mount was delivered at no great dis- 
tance from Capernaum, and when our Lord had finished, Ha 
proceeded to that city 



THE DYING AND THE DEAD. 281 

There was a centurion* at Capernaum, who, if on duty 
there, as appears to be the case, must have been in the service 
of king Herod. That he was a heathen, does not show the 
contrary, for Herod had foreign soldiers in his pay, and he, 
and others in the same position, liked to give military com- 
mands to foreign (and therefore heathen) officers, versed in 
the Roman arts of war. The case is in some respects parallel 
with, that of the late Pasha of Egypt, who, notwithstanding 
the dislike of Moslems to Christians, had many officers (French, 
Italians, and Poles, chiefly) in his service — some of whom, by 
conforming to the religion of the country, attained to high 
commands. 

This centurion, however, like many other heathens of that 
age, unsatisfied with the old and worn-out popular religion in 
in which he had been brought up, and his situation having 
brought him into such approximation to Judaism as enabled 
him to observe the great superiority of its moral and religious 
spirit, and the refreshing contrast which the simple purity of 
belief in one God offered, to the perplexing crowd of divinities 
which idolatry presented, was lead to believe in Jehovah as 
the Almighty, and to render to Him his worship. Whether 
he had yet become a proselyte or not, is doubtful ; but he had 
certainly evinced the reality of his faith by building a Jewish 
synagogue at his own expense. 

The centurion had a faithful servant who had fallen sick, and 
whose life was despaired of. For this man the master evinced 
a degree of anxiety and solicitude, which is highly to the credit 
or his character — as, indeed, is all that transpires concerning 
him. 

At this juncture he heard of the arrival of Jesus, with 
whose former miracles of healing in that place he must have 

* The commander of a company or centurio of infantry, the number 
of which varied with times and circumstances from thirty to a hundred 
men. Their military rank, therefore, corresponded apparently to that 
of the captains in European armies ; but, in fact, somewhat higher— 
their duties being in many respects different, and their responsibilities 



282 THIRTY-SIXTH WEEK- -WEDNESDAY. 

been well acquainted. Indeed, a person of such consideration 
was likely to be personally acquainted with the " nobleman" 
whose son Jesus had formerly healed ; and it is even probable 
that he had heard all the particulars from his own lips. All 
his hopes were now placed in Jesus ; but remembering that he 
was a heathen, as was probably also the servant whose euro 
he sought, he feared that his request might be declined, unless 
supported by some influence which, as a Jew, Jesus might be 
supposed to respect. He therefore applied to the elders 
of the city, begging them to use their influence on his behalf. 
Considering the obligation he had laid them under, their readi- 
ness to do thi« for him is natural. They, therefore, repaired to 
Jesus, and supported the application they made on behalf of 
the centurion by urging, " He loveth our nation, and hath 
built us a synagogue." Our Lord having signified his readi- 
ness to accompany them, they were proceeding to the house, 
when the centurion having heard of his approach, hastened 
forth, and with deep and earnest reverence, explained that he 
had sent to Him as not counting himself entitled to apply di- 
rectly to Him : and now he craved pardon for having ventured 
to suppose it necessary that He should come to his house in 
order to cure his servant. He was not worthy that He should 
come under his roof — nor could it be needful — " Speak a word 
only, and my servant shall be healed." This impressed Jesus 
greatly. The centurion's faith came out strongly in every 
point where that of the nobleman had been deficient. He saw 
that the mind of this semi-heathen — free from the cloud of 
notions respecting the nature of the Messiah's kingdom which 
obscured the Jewish mind — had been enabled to realize a clear 
conception of his own lowliness and of the loftiness of the One 
to whom he spoke — a state of heart which has been in all 
ages essential for true access to Him. The distance is infinite ; 
and it is done away — we become one with Him, not by his 
being brought down to us, but by our being enabled to mount 
up to Him. 

Our Lord, therefore, turned round to those who watched 
the result of this extraordinary interview, and with marked 



THE DYING AND THE DEAD. 283 

emphasis declared — " I say unto you, I have not found so 
great faith, no, not in Israel. " 

The centurion had asked Him only for a word. But not 
even a word was given. Probably Jesus made some sign or 
motion indicating that he should return to his house, and there 
be found his dying servant perfectly recovered. 

Our Lord healed, probably, every kind of disease known in 
Palestine. He had raised the dying from the beds they had not 
hoped to leave again. But He had not yet raised the dead. 
This alone was wanting to complete the evidences of Divine 
power which his miracles offered. The very next day supplied 
this farther attestation. He walked over to a town called 
Nain, which still exists under the same name as a small village 
about three miles south-west of Mount Tabor. It is an average 
day's journey from Capernaum, so we may suppose that our 
Lord intended to remain there for the rest of the day and the 
ensuing night. He was attended by some of his disciples, and 
by a considerable number of people. As they approached the 
town, a funeral procession passed out — all cemeteries being 
outside the towns, as they still are in the East. It was a 
youth who was borne to his grave. He was the son of a poor 
woman — her only son — and she was a widow. Alas for her ! 
She had none but him — and he was gone from her, and leffc 
most desolate. The joy, if not the hope, of her life was gone ; 
the staff of her age was broken. And as she followed the bier, 
tears, such as only mothers — mothers of only sons — can shed, 
flowed fast. 

Such a case commanded great sympathy — especially among 
a people whose appreciation of male offspring was so intense ; 
and as it was, and is still, in the East, considered a good deed and 
a mark of becoming sympathy and respect, for neighbors and 
passers-by to turn and follow a corpse to its long home, a 
large number of the people of Nain gave to that forlorn mother 
the comfort of their presence at the funeral of her son. But 
greater comfort awaited her — such comfort as only that Stranger 
who now drew nigh could give. He saw all ; and his heart, 
which was the very dwelling place — the throne — of pity, was 



284 THIRTY-SIXTH WEEK WEDNESDAY. 

deeply moved. He said to the mother, in accents which were 
alone sufficient to give comfort and to inspire hope, " Weep 
not." He then touched the bier, as if to arrest it ; and the 
bearers, obedient to that intimation — though they knew not 
why — stood still. Then He said to the corpse : " Young man, 
I say unto thee — Arise !" And he did arise ; and not only 
arose, but began to speak — as if impelled by the power which 
had raised him, to give instant comfort and full assurance to 
his poor bewildered mother. Oh, with what thrilling joy did 
she hear that voice, which from infant days had gladdened her 
heart so often, and which she had deemed hushed for ever 
among the ghastly silences of death ! 

There was only One whose joy could be comparable to hers 
— the joy of Him " who went about doing good," and who 
felt a sacred pleasure in bringing back gladness to the forlorn 
and broken-hearted. 

The impression made upon the numerous spectators by this 
amazing miracle, was strong and powerful. The first feeling 
was that of awe. Then they glorified God ; some saying, " A 
great prophet has risen up among us ;" and some declaring 
that God had at length " visited his people," by sending the 
One so long expected, and to whom only such great deeds 
could be possible. 

There were indeed examples of raising the dead by the 
prophets Elijah and Elisha ; but with what remarkably con- 
trasting circumstances of prayer, and effort, and delay ; whereas 
Jesus arrests a corpse in the road to the grave, and at once bids 
it live. The apostles also raised the dead, but they confessedly 
derived their power from Jesus, and did nothing but in his 
name. It is always " in the name of Jesus of Nazareth" that 
they speak and work. Whereas He speaks in his own name 
as One possessing original and autocratic power — " / say unto 
thee, Arise." 



TWO INCIDENTS AT CAPERNAUM. 285 



THIRTY-SIXTH WEEK— THURSDAY. 

TWO INCIDENTS AT CAPERNAUM. 
MATTHEW XI. 2-19 J LUKE VII. 18-50. 

We find Jesus again at Capernaum ; and his stay there be- 
fore commencing another journey is marked by two interesting 
incidents, recorded by the evangelists. 

The first of these was the appearance of some of John's dis- 
ciples at the place*, on a mission of inquiry from their master. 
John had now been a year in prison, and Josephus states that 
Macheerus, east of the Dead Sea, one of the strong fortresses 
built by the elder Herod, was the place of his imprisonment. 
In that case the disciples must have come upwards of fifty 
miles to visit Jesus at Capernaum. 

The inquiry they were directed to make sounds strangely in 
our ears. They said : John the Baptist hath sent us unto 
Thee, saying, " Art Thou He that should come ; or look we for 
another?" In other words, Art Thou indeed the promised 
Messiah, or are we still to expect Him ? That John, of all men 
in the land, should express any doubt on a matter in which he 
had received and delivered evidence so complete and conclusive, 
excites at the first view some surprise and disappointment, and 
has naturally led to inquiry respecting John's real object in 
sending to Jesus, and the full purport of the inquiry he made. 

There is a notion that John had no doubt on his own part ; 
but being troubled by the doubts of his disciples, he had sent 
them to Jesus with this inquiry, that they might obtain from 
himself evidence of his Messiahship. This looks much like a 
contrivance to get over a difficulty ; and it seems better to take 
the expressions in their plain meaning, as a message which 
John sent for his own satisfaction. 

John was but a man, though a highly-favored and gifted 
one ; and the most favored men — even prophets and apostles — 
are subject to different frames of mind and feeling, and are at 
times comparatively feeble in faith and hope. This was the 



286 THIRTY-SIXTH WEEK THURSDAY. 

case even with John's great prototype Elijah, strong of heart 
and firm of faith as he was. Let us consider, further, that John 
had been for many months shut up in prison, and this confine- 
ment could not but have had a peculiarly depressing influence 
upon one, who had so long been used to the free air and open 
life of the wilderness. He heard of the doings of Jesus ; and 
as he had himself never claimed authority to work miracles, nor 
possessed the nower to do so, he must have been suitably im- 
pressed oy them. But although his views as to the nature of 
the Messiah's kingdom were immensely in advance of those en- 
tertained by the nation at large, it is not clear that he did not, 
and it is probable tnat he did, expect that the Messiah was to 
set up some visible reign — a reign of righteousness and salva- 
tion on the earth. He therefore watched what was to follow 
these miraculous demonstrations, — and to him, in the weari- 
ness of his prison, the time appeared long. But nothing 
seemed to ensue. Our Lord proceeded in his work of teaching 
and working miracles ; and on more than one occasion He had 
already appeared rather to shun than to seek the public recog- 
nition of his Messiahship. Let us understand, also, that John 
received all his information concerning Christ from his own dis- 
ciples, who regarded His proceedings with some disfavor, and 
naturally imparted the hue of their own feelings to their com- 
munications. Although, therefore, John still believed that 
Jesus was all that had been testified of Him, and that He held 
a high and Divine commission, he may have suffered a doubt 
to enter his mind, as to His office being that of the personage 
who " should come," that is, the Messiah, to whom the Jewish 
expectations bore reference. He may have failed, as many 
have done since with fuller light, because after-light, to recon- 
cile the prophecies of the Messiah's glory with those of his 
humiliation and simple beneficence ; and have been led to 
think that there might be two persons to appear in fulfilment 
of different functions, of whom Jesus was one, and not the least 
illustrious — but not the One, to whom the national expectations 
definitively referred. We can easily believe that if John had 
seen and heard Christ for himself, or if he had received his in- 



TWO INCIDENTS AT CAPERNAUM. 287 

formation from better sources, no doubt on this matter would 
have entered his mind. But it seems clear that he had some 
kind of doubt; and we know not what it may have been, 
unless that which we have endeavored to define. 

Whatever his doubts concerning Jesus were, he very proper- 
ly referred the definitive decision of them to His own mouth. 

It so happened that, at the time the messengers of John ap- 
peared before Him, Jesus was engaged in his great work of 
healing the afflicted by miracle. He proceeded with it ; and 
when He had done, He turned to the messengers, and de- 
sired them to go and tell John what they had seen and 
heard : " How that the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are 
cleansed, the dead are raised." Nor is that all — " the poor have 
the Gospel preached unto them." Thus He points to the 
miracles He had wrought as proofs of his Messiah ship ; and 
then presents himself as one who, as the Messiah, had chosen 
his sphere of labor among the poor in mind and spirit, display- 
ing his relieving and redeeming power to those who felt the 
need of it most, instead of presenting himself as a theocratic 
king to the nation which expected Him in that character, and 
into whose expectations the Baptist seems to have for a time 
partially, and only very partially, relapsed. 

To this our Lord added a word of caution and warning, 
which to our mind seems clearly to show that He regarded 
John at that time as laboring under some delusion ; and as the 
question of one so generally respected as John, put to Him 
publicly, might have an injurious effect if not clearly and de- 
cisively met, our Lord said plainly : " Blessed is he whosoever 
shall not be offended in Me." Meaning, Happy is he who is 
content with these signs of my Messiahship, and is not offended 
because they may not exactly meet his pre-conceived expecta- 
tions. 

When the disciples of John had departed with this answer — 
which we doubt not was fully satisfactory to him — Jesus began 
to speak to the people around Him of the Baptist. Whatever 
doubt John might for the moment entertain respecting Him, 
He had none respecting John. He was a prophet, and " more 



288 THIRTY-SIXTH WEEK THURSDAY. 

than a prophet." He was the predicted forerunner of the 
Messiah, and the preparer of his way. No one, in all pas* 
time, had ever held a position comparable to that of John in 
the advancement and development of the kingdom of God, or 
had enjoyed a higher degree of religious illumination ; yet, He 
added, the least in the manifested kingdom — that is, the church 
founded by Christ as the Redeemer — the least among truly en- 
lightened Christians, was greater than even John the Baptist. 
After this character of John, our Lord made a pointed moral 
application as to the value of public opinion to the teachers of 
righteousness. John had come as an austere man, dwelling 
apart, and " neither eating bread nor drinking wine," and peo- 
ple had pronounced him mad. But the Son of man had 
" come eating and drinking," taking his part in all the condi- 
tions and amenities of social life ; and then the same low, de- 
tractive tongues had changed their tale, and had said of Him, 
'• Behold a gluttonous man and a wine-bibber, a friend of pub- 
licans and sinners !" He added, that although the conduct of 
John and himself was not understood or appreciated by that 
generation, yet the wise, the candid, who understood the reasons 
of their conduct, would approve it and do justice to it. " Wis- 
dom is justified of all her children." 

The other circumstance to which we have referred as occur- 
ring during our Lord's present stay at Capernaum, took place 
when He was dining, by special invitation, at the house of a 
rich Pharisee, named Simon. A woman of the place, known 
as " a sinner," came there with an alabaster box of ointment, 
and, standing at his feet behind Him, weeping, " began to 
wash his feet with tears, and did wipe them with the hairs of 
her head." Here is a remarkable instance of the way in which 
" sinners" are sometimes mentioned in the gospels ; and some- 
times coupled with publicans in the phrase — " publicans and 
sinners." As we know that all are sinners, it strikes us as 
something strange to find the term thus applied, just as we 
would mention a sect, or a recognised body of persons. The 
Pharisees, however, by no means acknowledged the fact, that 
they were sinners ; but limited the term to such as were or 



TWO INCIDENTS AT CAPERNAUM. 289 

had been of notoriously bad life and conversation. Gentiles 
were, however, counted sinners, and indeed the worst of sinners, 
in the mass, without any regard to their personal character. 
Some have hence thought that the woman was a Gentile ; but 
this seems less likely than that she was a woman who was 
well known to have been lately leading an improper life. 

The position this woman occupied, and the mode in which 
she acted, require some explanation to render them intelligible. 
The Jews had, in and before this age, adopted the Roman 
custom of reclining at meals upon a couch or dinner-bed, 
called a triclinium, which stood in the middle of the room, 
with a space between it and the walls, by which the guests 
passed to their places, and in which the servants remained in 




attendance. The dinner-bed formed three sides of a square, 
leaving the side nearest the door open, so that the servants 
could have access to the dinner table, which was enclosed 
within the area formed by the triclinium. The guests put off 
their sandals as they entered ; and were usually, in respect- 
able houses, attended by servants of the host, to wash and 
sometimes to anoint their feet. The feet were occasionally 
washed without being afterwards anointed, but were never 
anointed without being previously washed. The guests, when 
placed, had their faces turned towards the table, with their feet 
outward or behind, towards the wall. It will thus be seen how 
the woman, " standing at his feet behind," could readily do all 
that she is described as doing. 

It may still be asked, "How did she gain access to the 
house; and, especially, how to the dining-room?" It was 

VOL. III. 13 



290 THIRTY-SIXTH WEEK THURSDAY. 

counted a piece of hospitality, that access to a house should be 
unusually free, when an entertainment was given ; and, in fact, 
many repaired to houses on such occasions, to behold the feast, 
in the hope either of getting a reward by contributing, through 
some accomplishment, to the satisfaction of the guests, or of 
obtaining a share of the victuals, for nothing was reserved from 
such entertainments ; but when the guests had finished, the 
household satisfied their appetites, and then all that remained 
was given to such poor persons as might be at hand to receive 
it. Thus, from one cause and another, there were always 
many people hanging about the court, and the outer parts of 
the guest-chamber, which was wholly open in front. A dooi 
is a great hindrance to admission into a room, and where that 
does not exist, people easily slip in. 

But this was a woman! Well, we have said repeatedly 
that social manners were considerably less rigid among the 
Jews, in regard to women, than they are in the East now. It 
is true that women did not eat with men, at least not with 
strangers. But there was no objection to their being present. 
Both the sisters of Lazarus were present at the entertainment 
given by Simon the leper, to Jesus and to their brother, and 
one of them did the very same thing to Jesus that this woman 
does now. 

This woman was a sinner — but she was a penitent one; 
and from what she had heard of or from Jesus, she felt that 
He alone could give her comfort or relief, and she longed to 
make known to Him how keenly she felt the burden of her 
sins. She could, perhaps, not get near to Him in the public 
places for the crowd, or shrunk from obtruding the pollution 
of her presence upon Him in public, or hesitated to expose her 
contrite emotions to the general gaze. She therefore gladly 
seized the opportunity which this entertainment afforded to 
approach nearer to Him, in as much privacy as was possible 
for her to attain. It does not seem to us that she went for 
the purpose of washing and anointing our Lord's feet: for 
when she went there, she must have had every reason to sup- 
pose that this had been already done. The act was probably 



TWO INCIDENTS AT CAPERNAUM. 



2V>1 



suggested by her perceiving that this, whether from intended 
slight on the part of the host or not, had been neglected. She 
then, probably, hastened home to fetch her phial of costly and 
fragrant oil, unless she had it already with her, which is not 
likely, if she had not this anointing in view when she first 
came ; and then she proceeded to act as described. The " ala- 
baster box," containing the " ointment," or rather oil, is in the 
original called simply an alabastron, a name derived from 
Alabastron in Egypt, where there was a manufactory of small 
pots and vessels for holding perfumes, made from the stone 
found in the neighboring mountains, and which was thought 
to conserve, better than any other substance, the qualities of 
the precious unguents. The Greeks gave to these vessels the 
name of the town which produced them, and then to the 
species of stone of which they were made, and eventually to 




all perfume vessels of whatever form or substance. Hence 
that this woman's vessel is called an alabastron, does not 
make it certain that it was formed of alabaster. 

Jesus, although He turned not round, was conscious of the 
whole proceeding. So was the master of the house, who 
furtively surveyed the operation, thinking within himself, 



292 THIRTY-SIXTH WEEK — THURSDAY. 

whether Jesus could possibly know that the woman whom Ho 
thus allowed to approach Him, and to perform such offices 
was — " a sinner." Our Lord caught his glance, and reading 
all his thoughts, said to him — " Simon, I have somewhat to 
say unto thee ;" and, being desired to proceed, He put the 
case of two debtors, one owing d hundred pence and the other 
fifty, and both being forgiven by the creditor, and asked which, 
of the two would be likely to love him most. " I suppose," 
said Simon, " he to whom he forgave most." Jesus told him 
he had rightly judged ; and then, turning to the woman, He 
proceeded, — " Seest thou this woman ? I came into thine 
house [not of mine own accord, but at thy asking], and thou 
[neglectful of becoming attention to thy guest] gavest me no 
water for my feet, but she [nobly supplying thy lack of ser- 
vice] hath washed my feet, [not with, mere water, withheld by 
thee, but by something far more precious] with, her tears, and 
wiped them [not with a common napkin but] with the hairs 
of her head. Thou gavest me no kiss [as men do when they 
receive a guest], but this woman, since the time I came in, 
hath not ceased to kiss my feet. My head with [even com- 
mon] oil thou didst not anoint, [as men do to the guests they 
wish to honor], but this woman hath anointed [not my head, 
but] my very feet, with [precious] ointment." Simon doubt- 
less by this time began to look dark ; but he looked darker 
still when he heard what followed : — " Wherefore I say unto 
thee, her sins, which are many, are forgiven ; for she loved 
much : but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little." 
Then, addressing the woman, He said : " Thy sins are forgiven ;" 
and, seeing that she seemed lost in tears of bewildering thank- 
fulness, He added kindly, " Thy faith hath saved thee ; go in 
peace." 

Here, again, as on a former occasion, the Pharisees present 
were smitten with wrath, and said one to another : " Who is 
this that forgiveth sins also V 



THE SECOND TOUR THROUGH GALILEE. 293 



THIRTY-SIXTH WEEK— FRIDAY. 

THE SECOND TOUR THROUGH GALILEE. 

matthew xii. 22 — xiii. 53; mark in. 30 — iv. 34; 

LUKE VIII. 1 XIII. 9. 

After this our Lord made another circuit through the 
towns and villages of Galilee, attended by the twelve apostles, 
and by other disciples. 

It seems uncertain, till we again find Him by the shores of 
the Sea of Galilee, whether the incidents that follow occurred 
in the course of this journey, or after the return to Capernaum. 
We must confess to some indecision on this point ; but, upon 
the whole, incline to the former opinion. It is not, however, 
a matter of much consequence, except in so far as one feels a 
desire to know, as nearly as possible, where Jesus was when 
certain acts were performed, and certain discourses delivered. 

On one occasion, a very strong impression was produced 
upon the people, by our Lord casting out a devil from a man 
who had become, under this influence, not only insane, but 
blind and dumb. Here were three cures simultaneously 
effected ; and when the people beheld the lunatic sensible and 
collected, when they heard the dumb speak, and perceived that 
the blind saw, they exclaimed in amazed reverence, " Is not 
this the Son of David ?" — that is, the Messiah, who was often 
mentioned by that title. The Pharisees, however, foiled a? 
they had hitherto been in their arguments with Him, and in 
their attempts to ensnare Him, took this occasion to launch 
their most venomous shaft against Him. They insinuated that 
such miracles were performed only through power acquired by 
some unlawful compact with "Beelzebub, the prince of devils,' 
and that it was by the secret invocation of this powerful name 
that the inferior demons yielded Him obedience. Considering 
the state of Jewish opinion in regard to the world of spirits, and 
the facility with which, in consequence, such a notion might 
gain access to their minds, a more dangerous and insidious 



294 THIRTY-SIXTH WEEK — FRIDAY. 

imputation could not have been put forth. Jesus knew this ; 
and nothing ever said against Him, drew down from Him a 
protest and a denunciation so warm and indignant as this. 
He first showed the absurdity of the charge. The powers of 
darkness were known to be inimical to man ; and yet they 
were thus made out to be acting against the interests of their 
own dominion by doing good to him. If, also, evil spirits were 
only cast out by the power of the devil, by whose power did 
they profess to cast them out ? — for, as should be known, these 
Pharisees made great pretensions to be themselves exorcists 
of evil spirits. Then, in a tone of solemn severity, He declared 
that it was " blasphemy against the Holy Ghost" — a sin less 
pardonable than any other, to ascribe to infernal power works 
which bore upon them the manifest impress of the Divine 
goodness. 

Still they did not desist from this charge ; but having once 
made it, strove to keep it in circulation, and render it effectual. 
They even began to tamper with the near relations of Jesus, 
and succeeded for the moment in making them believe that 
He was not in his right mind, and that it was a duty which 
they owed to themselves and to society to put Him under 
restraint. They accordingly made an attempt to secure his 
person, and it perplexes one to find the mother of Jesus present 
on the occasion. It is, however, difficult to suppose that she 
had any part in the design. It is probable that she was igno- 
rant of it, but had been prevailed upon, on some pretence or 
other, to join the party of relations, who might suppose the 
apparent sanction of her presence desirable, or that her being 
with them would facilitate their object in getting Jesus apart, 
— for to seize Him by force from among his followers and 
auditors was more than they could have dared. It is even 
possible that, knowing the design, she had gone on purpose to 
frustrate it. 

One day our Lord had, in answer to the demand for a sign 
or proof to the Messiahship, from the Pharisees, refused to give 
any other sign but that of the prophet Jonas, obscurely shad- 
owing forth his future resurrection, — and that, less for the 



THE SECOND TOUR THROUGH GALILEE. 295 

purpose of being then understood, than of having his words 
remembered with conviction hereafter by his disciples. Con- 
tinuing his discourse, one woman present was so impressed by 
his words, that she cried out, " Blessed is the womb that bare 
Thee, and the paps which Thou hast sucked !" " Yea, rather," 
said He, " blessed are they that hear the word of God, and 
keep it." One might almost think that this woman was con- 
scious that the mother of Jesus was there, or close at hand ; 
for presently it was known that she had come with other mem- 
bers of the family, seeking access to Him. He was then in a 
house, and the press of the crowd in the court prevented them 
from approaching Him. The intimation that they were pres- 
ent soon, however, passed through the throng, and one told 
Jesus that his mother and brethren were without, desiring to 
see Him. It is not clear whether this was a message, or the in- 
formation of a bystander ; but it is likely to have been the for- 
mer, as they might calculate that He would be likely to come 
out to his mother. But He did not, being well aware of the de- 
sign entertained against Him, and which must have grieved 
Him sorely. On the contrary, He took occasion to declare 
most emphatically the superior obligations of spiritual ties. 
" "Who is my mother ? and who are my brethren ?" And 
stretching forth his hand to the seeking souls around Him, 
and more especially to his disciples, He claimed them for 
his spiritual kindred, and declared that their affinity to Hiir. 
was nearer than any which ties of blood could create. " Be- 
hold my mother and my brethren ! For whosoever shall do 
the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my 
brother, and sister, and mother !" 

It was on this occasion that our Lord received an invitation 
to dinner or supper from a Pharisee, who had not evinced much 
open opposition to Him, or had concealed it under the mark 
of courtesy. He went ; and the master of the house was shocked 
to observe, that He had " not washed" before sitting down to 
table. This does not prove that He had not washed at all, 
but it proves that He had not done so after the manner of the 
ceremonious washings, by which the Pharisees distinguished 



296 THIRTY-SIXTH WEEK FRIDAY. 

themselves from "the men of earth," as they insolently designated 
the common people, who only washed when cleanliness re- 
quired. This might not have been expected from Jesus as " a 
man of the earth," but they did expect it from Him as a reli- 
gious teacher, for in their religion, this was a very essential 
article. Our Lord perceiving the thoughts of his entertainer, 
was grieved once more at the hollowness of the generation in 
which He appeared. He spoke plainly, as was his wont, de- 
nouncing, in most stern and even vehement language, this 
miserable affectation of external purity, where the inside was 
so foul and unclean. Who does not sympathize in our Lord's 
indignation, at the shams and hypocrisies of this day ? "Who 
does not vehemently stamp with his foot, and concur in the 
" Woe, woe !" which our Lord pronounced upon them ? Yet, 
let not the trumpet of our indignation be blown too loudly. 
There may be things in this city, things in this street, things 
in this house, things in this bosom, to prevent us from crying 
out quite loudly, " Thank God, we are not like these Phari- 
sees." 

After this, we have an account of various discourses of our 
Lord ; many of them taking the shape of Parables, a form 
of discourse admirably suited to an eastern people especially, 
but in fact well adapted to impress the inculcated truths upon 
all minds. This mode of instruction was also well adapted to 
the peculiar position in which our Lord stood, and which often 
required Him to speak with veiled meanings, to appear here 
after. He had to avoid such plainness of intimation, as might, 
on the one hand, hasten the death he came to die, before the 
foundations of his church were sufficiently consolidated ; or as 
might, on the other, excite the people to demand of Ilim the 
instant establishment of that kingdom of violence whifh they 
desired. Hence we find that while all these parables >ffer, on 
the surface, a plain and impressive moral, they also bear a more 
or less covert relation to the character and growth o the re- 
ligion he came to establish. 



THE STORM. 297 



THIRTY-SIXTH WEEK.— SATURDAY. 

the storm. matt. viii. 18-34; mark iv. 35 v. 21 j luke 

viii. 22-40. 

Jesus was desirous to visit the region that lay east of the 
southern extremity of the Lake of Tiberias, and embarked with 
his disciples in " a ship," or large boat, for that purpose. Dur- 
ing the passage, a sudden and violent squall, such as small 
inland seas, surrounded by mountain gorges, are always exposed 
to, came down upon the bosom of the waters ; and the vessel 
appeared to be in imminent peril, even in the eyes of those 
who had been always familiar with the lake, and had witnessed 
many of its storms. They were seriously alarmed. Their faith 
ought to have taught them that they were safe while in the 
same ship with their Master. They had not this faith ; but 
they had faith enough to know that He was their only refuge 
in this distress. And where was He? Fatigued with the 
labors of the day, He had withdrawn to the hinder part of the 
vessel, and composed himself to sleep ; and He slept so soundly, 
that all this turmoil and terror had not aroused Him. It is 
probable that they did not for a time like to awaken Him ; but 
at length their alarm became so intense, that they aroused 
Him, with exclamations significantly expressive of haste and 
agitation — " Master, Master — carest Thou not that we perish !" 
O foolish disciples, to think that He could perish thus at mis- 
adventure (for they doubtless meant to include Him in their 
" we"), or that they could perish while He was there. This 
struck their Lord's attention more than the storm ; and he said, 
" Why are ye so fearful ? — how is it that ye have no faith V 
And then lie arose, and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, 
" Peace, be still !" Then the wind fell at once, and imme» 
diately there was " a great calm." The quiet and simple re- 
cital of the evangelists more effectually realizes this scene, and 
" dilates the strong conception" of this sublime transaction, than 
any garniture of words in prose or verse could do. Nothing 
13* 



298 THIRTY-SIXTH WEEK SATURDAY 

comes near it but that one other instance which the commence- 
ment of the sacred volume supplies — " and He said, Light be 
— and light was." And the analogy of the two examples is 
nearer than might at first appear, for He who now rebukes the 
wind, is He " by whom also God made the worlds ;" — He, 
" without whom was nothing made that was made." 

Upon landing at the other side of the lake, they met an ex- 
traordinary reception from a most furious demoniac,'* who had 
his dwelling among the tombs. It is to be remarked that 
there are in this part of the country, and especially near the 
ruins of the city of Gadara, from which the district took its 
name, still to be seen numerous old sepulchres hewn in the 
sides of the hills, some of which are occupied as residences by 
poor families. These places of tombs being outside the towns, 
and being avoided by the Jews, for fear of contracting pollu- 
tion from contact with human bones, formed secluded retreats, 
acceptable to those who, from demoniacal possession, madness, 
crime, or other causes, shunned the society of men. These 
things still happen ; and the anecdote given below, f from Mr. 
Warburton's Crescent and Cross, bears very much on the case 
before us. The demoniac who encountered our Lord is like- 
wise expressly stated by Matthew to have been so dangerous 
to passers-by, that the neighborhood of his haunt was shunned. 
He also, like this maniac, was naked ; for although it had 
often been endeavored to make him wear clothes, he speedily 

* Matthew intimates that there were two ; but Mark and Luke name 
only one — showing, seemingly, that the case of one of them was so 
much less remarkable than that of the other as to fall into the back 
ground in the narrative. 

f " On descending from the heights [of Lebanon] I found myself in 
a cemetery, whose sculptured turbans showed that the neighboring vil- 
lage was Moslem. The silence of the night was now broken by fierce 
yell sand howlings, which I discovered proceeded from a naked maniac, 
who was fighting with some wild dogs for a bone. The moment he 
perceived me, he left his canine comrades, and bounding along with 
rapid strides, seized my horse's bridle, and almost forced him back- 
ward over the cliff, by the grip he held of the powerful Mameluke 
bit." 



THE STORM. 299 

released himself from the encumbrance, by rending off what- 
ever was put upon his person. There is a kind of mania in 
which this propensity is often manifested ; and we remember 
to have been much astonished when we first, in the East, ob- 
served a man in this condition moving about freely in the 
streets and market-places, without attracting much notice. On 
inquiry, we learned that he was a maniac, and had so often de- 
stroyed the clothing put upon him, that all attempts to dress 
him had been abandoned. 

But why was he not under restraint ? The reason is given : 
" No man could bind him, no, not with chains." For when 
the demoniacal paroxysm was on him, he became endued with 
tremendous strength, so that he easily rent his chains asunder. 
This is nowise incredible ; for there are still some forms of 
mania in which the sufferer, notwithstanding the constant ex- 
haustion of mind and body, gains a daily increase of muscular 
strength, and is able to break the strongest bonds and even chains. 
Moreover, this wretched man often vented vengefully upon his 
own person the irritation of his perturbed spirit, " crying and 
cutting himself with stones" — which also finds a parallel in 
some cases of insanity — as in an instance of raving madness, 
mentioned by the late Dr. Pritchard, in which the patient 
" habitually wounded his hands, wrists, and arms, with needles 

and pins The blood sometimes flowed copiously 

dropping from his elbows when his arms were bare." It 
would therefore seem that this instance of demoniacal posses- 
sion took the form of the most outrageous lunacy — or rather, 
perhaps, concentrated in one case all the most outrageous 
manifestations of different kinds of raving madness. 

And what brings this fierce man, leaping and bounding 
over the hills, to meet the Saviour ? Does he mean to molest 
Him, as he did other travellers ? No. Impelled by the power 
within him, " he ran and worshipped him ;" and with his voice 
the demon cried, " What have I to do with Thee, Jesus, Thou 
Son of the Most High God ? I adjure Thee by God, that 
Thou torment me not." It is clear by this that the demon 
knew what he had to expect, and hoped, by servile entreaty, 



300 THIRTY-SIXTH WEEK SATURDAY. 

to mitigate his doom. In answer to a question, he said his 
name was Legion, " for we are many," and implored that he 
might not be sent out of the country — a request that may seem 
as suitable for the man himself as for the demon ; but that 
the latter is meant, appears by the additional request not to 
be sent " into the deep." This does not here mean the sea, but 
" the abyss" (as in the original), hell, the place of spirits. It 
was an opinion that the demons had great objections to be 
there, and much preferred to wander about. But it was held 
that they could only do this within the vehicle of some body, 
human or animal — divested of which, they returned to the 
abyss. To avert this, the demons implored permission to e*»- 
ter a herd of swine that was feeding near, knowing that it 
would be in vain to ask leave to enter into any other man, or 
into any lawful beast of the country. Leave was given ; and 
forthwith the demons quitted the man, and dispersed them- 
selves into the herd of swine, which, upon this unwonted in- 
vasion, fled, with cries of terror, down the steeps into the sea. 

When the people of the neighboring villages heard of these 
proceedings, they hastened to meet Jesus, and beheld there the 
lately terrible demoniac, from whose presence they had been 
used to flee, sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed, and in his 
right mind. It is likely that the one-sided report of the swine- 
herds, in justifying themselves to the owners of the swine, had 
filled the latter with hostile intentions against Jesus for the loss 
they had sustained. But when they came to the spot, and saw 
the demoniac thus quiet as a child, " they were afraid" to molest 
Him ; but, apprehensive of further loss if He remained there, 
they implored Him to quit the country. And He, thus inhos- 
pitably received — thus rejected — yielded to their wish, and re- 
turned, wet and hungry, to the boat. 

After all, some have said, this was a loss to these Gadarenes ; 
and on what principle can we account for its infliction ? As 
to the loss, it might be deemed sufficiently made up to them 
by their being rid of so great a nuisance as the demoniac, more 
terrible than any beast of prey ; and they ought to have thought 
the benefit to this poor man not too dearly purchased at the 



THE STORM. 301 

cost of their swine. In fact, all thought of their loss should 
have been overwhelmed in astonishment at this great miracle. 
But they were a hoggish people, and their thoughts were of 
hogs. The inhabitants of this quarter were for the most part 
heathens, with some Jewish people among them. The swine, 
therefore, belonged either to the one or the other. To Jews the 
hog with other animals had been made unclean — that is, unfit 
for food — by the law ; and since the time when Antiochus, in 
his oppression of the Jews, had made the eating of swine's 
flesh a test and symbol of enforced rejection of the law, and of 
conformity to idolatry, the hog had become detestable beyond 
all beasts, and the keeping of them or having anything to do 
with them unlawful. If, therefore, these swine belonged to Jews, 
they were rightly punished for their infraction of what had been 
the law and custom of their country. The heathen on their 
part, aware of Ijbis Jewish antipathy to hogs, were much in 
the habit of insulting and worrying them, not only by oral and 
written allusions to the subject, which was indeed a standing 
jest among the heathen, but by obtruding hogs and pork 
upon their notice. If, therefore, the herds belonged to the 
heathen, there is much ground to suspect that their obtrusive 
preference for rearing hogs, had its root in a desire to annoy 
their Jewish neighbors, who could not, without disgust and 
irritation, behold the unclean beast flourishing thus largely on 
the borders of their Holy Land. In that case, their malignancy 
deserved the punishment of this loss. They deserved to be 
wounded in their tenderest part — their hogs. 

But more than this. Jesus knew that a time would come 
when men would question the fact of demoniacal possession, 
and say that the poor lunatics thought they were possessed of 
devils, and that He merely humored them in this delusion. 
May He not, therefore, have had an important and special mo- 
tive in leaving this evidence for the reality of such possessions — 
evidence so strong that even those who entertain the view at 
which we have hinted, acknowledge the obstruction to it which 
this instance offers ? For, granting that men might labor 
under such a delusion, how, as a delusion, could it act upon 



302 THIRTY-SEVENTH WEEK SUNDAY. 

hogs, and not upon one merely, but simultaneously upon a 
large number ? The reality of their possession is avouched by 
the result, as taken with the antecedent circumstances ; and 
that it was not in their case a delusion, is clear from the un- 
ideal character of the hoggish mind, which we may conclude 
had never been disturbed by notions about evil spirits and de- 
moniacal possessions. Upon the whole, we imagine that it 
would have been difficult, from the very nature of the case, to 
have provided any single piece of evidence for the reality of de- 
moniacal possessions more conclusive than is in this instance 
furnished, especially as the presence of the swineherds, inter- 
ested in the preservation of the hogs, and accountable to the 
owners for them, shows that there could not possibly have 
been any foul play in the case, by worrying or frightening the 
hogs through any more tangible agency than that of evil 
spirits. 



THE TREASURE AND THE PEARL. MATTHEW XIII. 44-46. 

Among the seven parables which our Lord delivered about 
this time, there are two remarkably similar to each other in 
their general purport, but distinguished by some differences. 

They are those of the man finding a hidden treasure in a 
field, and then going with joy to sell all that he had, in order 
to purchase the field, that it might become all his own. The 
other, that of a merchant travelling in search of precious stones, 
who, when he has met with one pearl of surpassing value — " a 
pearl of great price," goes and sells all he has, all his previous 
acquisitions, in order to obtain it. The general similarity be- 
tween the two parables is apparent, and both are founded on 
circumstances of frequent occurrence in Eastern life. 

Thus, as to the treasure : owing to the insecurity of property 
in the East, from war and oppression, joined to the necessity 
of keeping valuable property in hand, for want of .secure banks 



THE TREASURE AND THE PEARL. 303 

of deposit, the practice of hiding precious utensils and orna- 
ments, money and jewels, has always been common in the 
East. Often it is built up into the walls of the owner's house, 
often buried in fields and gardens. The latter is usually the 
resort in cases of instant emergency, such as the approach of 
an enemy ; for any recent operation in the wall might be dis- 
closed by the difference in the state of the plaster, whereas any 
recent disturbance of the soil is less easily detected, from the 
greater extent of space, and from its being easier to obliterate 
the traces of the operation, — though we have heard of soldiers 
in taking possession of a town, diligently employing themselves 
in watering the gardens of the citizens, for the purpose of ob- 
serving where the water sank most freely in, supplying the in- 
ference that the soil had there been recently loosened. The 
owner often is killed, and takes his secret with him ; often he 
dies and makes no sign ; often he goes away and returns no 
more. Hence, the soil and the buildings upon it contain great 
quantities of treasure, thus concealed in past times. This is 
well known, and is in fact often evinced by the accidental dis- 
covery of them ; frequently by poor peasants when engaged in 
the labors of the field. It is this which makes the Orientals 
regard European travellers, exploring ancient sites and ruins, 
as engaged in treasure-seeking. Treasure-finding, indeed, oc- 
curs with sufficient frequency to exercise a distinct and strong 
influence upon the character of the people, who, in the depths 
of their misery and destitution, live in the feeling that they 
may at any time, " if God sees fit," be in this way suddenly 
raised to a state of affluence. 

The occupation of a travelling jeweller is still common in the 
East. He deals in precious stones and pearls, and travels 
widely in search of opportunities of making advantageous pur- 
chases or exchanges. In the course of these operations, it will 
sometimes happen that he meets with some rare and costly 
gem, for the sake of securing which he disposes of all his exist- 
ing stock, and every article of valuable property he possesses, 
to raise the purchase-money. 

Both these parables, and the whole series of seven to which 



304 THIRTY-SEVENTH WEEK SUNDAY. 

they belong, are introduced by the formula, " the kingdom of 
heaven is like unto," etc. It is therefore quite clear that they 
involve an inner and spiritual meaning; as is, indeed, further 
shown by the explanation which our Lord himself gave of the 
first of the series — that of the Sower. 

The general meaning of the two to which we call attention 
is evident on the very surface, — that the Gospel — salvation in 
and through Christ, the offer of eternal life — is the greatest 
and most inestimable blessing that man can find, to secure 
which is well worthy the sacrifice of all that he before pos- 
sessed or counted precious. 

The only essential difference between the two, is in the re- 
spective states of the men who find this rich possession. 

The first finds the treasure unexpectedly, when he thought 
not of it, nor was indeed aware of its existence. This is the 
case of those who have not felt that man's life has higher aims 
and objects than earth can offer, — that there is a priceless 
truth for them, not taught in the world nor learned in books. 
But God has, by his spirit, made them " willing," has opened 
their hearts to receive that which He designs to impart to 
them ; and when the treasures of the Gospel are suddenly 
opened up, they are astonished by the splendor, and impressed 
with the surpassing value ; and they feel ready to give up all 
that they have been accustomed to prize or value, " that they 
may win Christ, and be found in Him." And this they do, 
not grudgingly nor of necessity, nor as striking a nice balance 
of loss and gain — but " with joy," as is emphatically noted in 
the case of the man who found the treasure hid in the field. 
With joy, because 

" All the vain splendor that the world admires," 

its goods, its pleasures, its hopes, which before satisfied, or 
seemed to satisfy, the heart, have lost all relative value in their 
eyes — even as the lamp ceases to be of much account when 
the sun shines abroad ; or even as the man who has stored 
himself with copper or brass, disburdens himself of it quickly 



THE TREASURE AND THE PEARL. 305 

when he discovers "the vein of silver," or comes to "the place 
of gold." 

But the merchant was of another sort. He had distinctly 
set before his eyes the object of seeking goodly pearls. 

He is of those who are left unsatisfied by all that the world 
can give, and by all that the systems teach. He is convinced 
that there is something better and brighter which he has not 
reached, some great truth he has not learned, and which must, 
when found, be more effectual than aught he has yet attained,, 
to fill, and save, and sanctify the soul. So urged by an in- 
ward impulse — which is itself from God — he seeks diligently 
for that essential truth — that absolute good for the sons of 
men, which he knows must exist, and which he feels that he 
must find or perish. He travels far in pursuit of it ; and in 
the way he gathers many precious things — precious to him in 
his actual state, because they encourage his pursuit by afford- 
ing some glimmering rays caught from the priceless gem he 
seeks. But he knows that not these separately or together, 
are the Pearl of his desire, for they do not satisfy his wants 
— they leave him still craving for something more and better, 
to fill entirely the void within. But when at last he has 
caught view of Christ, in all the glory of his grace and good- 
ness — in all the fulness of his salvation, he knows he has found 
the real object of all his researches — the fruition of all his 
aspirations. It is the Pearl of great price. He knows well 
its value. He has sought it too long—he has been harassed 
too often by glittering substitutes, not to know that he has 
now found that which alone can make life a gladness to him, 
by giving rest to his soul. His search is ended. The Pearl 
is found. And he feels that rather than not win it — rather 
than lose it when won — he could gladly give his body to be 
burned, and his goods to feed the poor, and cast all his old 
systems and fine fancies to the moles and to the bats. 

Many are kept from seeking the ways that lead to Christ, 
by an apprehension of the terrible difficulty of that self-annul- 
ment which the coming to Him involves, and which is signi- 
fied by the leaving all to follow Him — the selling all to pur- 



306 THIRTY-SEVENTH WEEK MONDAY. 

chase the treasure-field and the pearl. But this is the concep- 
tion of those who have not come. To come to Him is to love 
Him ; and to love this self-annulment is easy ; for although 
adverse and bitter to the unloving, it is most congenial to the 
loving nature. If it were possible for the unloving to take 
Christ's yoke and bear his burden, that yoke would be hard 
and the burden heavy ; it is love that makes his yoke easy and 
his burden light. 



THIRTY-SEVENTH WEEK— MONDAY. 

MIRACLES AND MURDER. 

Matthew ix. 18 — x. 42, xiv. 6-12 ; mark v. 22 — vi. 29; 

LUKE VIII. 41— IX. 9. 

No sooner had our Lord landed on the other side the lake 
than He received an urgent application from Jairus, the ruler 
of the synagogue at Capernaum, who fell at his feet imploring 
Him to come to his only daughter, twelve years of age, who 
was then at the point of death. He went, and as He went, 
the press of the crowd around Him was very great. In that 
crowd there was a woman, who had for twelve years suffered 
under a grievous disease which exhausted both her blood and 
her money, for she had spent all her substance in seeking the 
help of physicians, who could give her no relief, and she re- 
mained most poor in mind and estate. She could not, how- 
ever, abandon all hope of cure. She believed that Jesus could 
heal her ; but the peculiar nature of her disease made her un- 
willing to make an open application to Him, in the presence 
of the crowd by which He was usually surrounded. She 
thought it might be possible to steal a cure. Her faith in his 
power to heal was such, that she believed it would suffice, 
could she but touch Him unobserved. In that crowd she 
managed to come behind Him, and touch the border of his 
garment, and no sooner had she done so, than she felt that she 
was cured. At that moment, Jesus asked who had touched 



MIRACLES AND MURDER. 307 

Him. All denied having done so ; but Peter remarked on the 
strangeness of the question, seeing how great was the pressure 
of the crowd around. Jesus explained that some one had 
touched Him with a purpose, for He felt " that virtue (to heal) 
had gone out of Him." On hearing this, the poor woman 
cast herself trembling at his feet, declaring all that had hap- 
pened to her. The strong faith which she had in this pecu- 
liar manner shown, was ' pleasing to our Lord, who spoke 
kindly and encouragingly to her, — rt Daughter, be of good 
comfort ; thy faith hath made thee whole ; go in peace." Her 
" faith" had made her whole ; the " virtue" which went forth 
from Christ made her whole. If she had not faith, his virtue 
would have availed her nothing ; if He had not the " virtue," 
her " faith" had not borne this fruit. There was thus a recip- 
rocal action between the faith of the patient and the virtue of 
the healer ; such exactly as takes place when we come to Him 
to be healed of our spiritual diseases. His virtue to heal is 
always the same, but to bring it out, to make it applicable to 
our wants, we must bring the faith which can alone put us 
into the requisite relation to Him. Without this, his virtue 
remains in himself; it passes not to us ; it is to us as if it were 
not. Many touch Christ in the press, but unless they touch 
Him with a purpose, the purpose of faith to be healed by the 
virtue that goes out of Him, it avails them not at all. 

Jairus, who kept close to our Lord, had doubtless been fret- 
ting at this interruption of his progress, where the alternative 
of life or death seemed to hang upon a moment's time. His 
worst fears seemed accomplished when a messenger came from 
the house to tell him, that he need give u the Master no further 
trouble, for the girl was dead." Pitying his evident distress, 
Jesus said to him, " Be not afraid, only believe," and instead 
of turning back He went on. He suffered but three of the 
of the apostles to enter the house with him. These were Peter, 
James, and John — the same three who were subsequently 
allowed on more than one occasion to witness things hid- 
den from the rest. On entering He found that the death 
clamor, the bitter wail of the real and the hired mourners, had 



808 THIRTY-SEVENTH WEEK MONDAY. 

been raised ; and Jesus said, " Why make ye this ado and 
weep ? the damsel is not de?d, but sleepeth ;" they derided the 
assertion, which they misunderstood, " knowing that she was 
dead." This assurance on their part is important, seeing that 
some have contended that she was not dead in fact, but only 
in a swoon. Seeing the frame of mind they were in was unfit 
for the deep solemnity before Him, and that their presence 
with their clamorous grief was altogether most unfit, He sent 
them all away. The house was now quiet, and Jesus proceeded 
to the chamber of death, attended by the three disciples, and 
by the father and mother of the child. It was a solemn mo- 
ment, as they stood around that rose, fragrant with bless- 
ings, which death had cropt so soon. Jesus took the maiden 
by the hand, and called to her, " Talitha Cumi," words which 
signify " Maiden arise." And at the touch of that hand, at 
the call of that voice, her spirit came again, and she arose and 
left the bed on which she had lain, walking down the room. 
Jesus told the parents to give her some nourishment, thus re- 
calling them from their ecstasy of trembling joy and gratitude, to 
the actual proof that she had indeed returned to the realities 
of mortal life, and needed its sustainments. Probably she had 
not taken any food for a long while before she died ; and to 
her parents it must have been no small delight, to watch her 
receiving her victuals with the keen relish and eager appetite 
of vigorous health. 

Our Lord charged those present not to promulgate this great 
miracle. This injunction He gave on other occasions, but it 
seems to have been invariably disregarded by the parties bene- 
fited, who felt that their gratitude must have a voice. 

As Jesus went hence, two blind men followed Him, crying 
as they went, " Thou Son of David, have mercy upon us !" 
He did not turn to them, but let them follow Him along tho 
street till He had reached his house. They then came to Him, 
and He asked them pointedly if they believed that He was 
able to do this ; thus again, as time advanced, more and more 
distinctly demanding faith as the condition of cure. On their 
answer, " Yea, Lord," He touched their eyes, but did not say 



MIRACLES AND MURDER. 309 

" Be opened," but still made the effect dependent on their faith 
— " According to your faith, be it unto you." And their faith 
was good faith, for their eyes were opened. This was the first 
case particularly mentioned of his giving sight to the blind: 
and it is distinguished from the other cases by the fact, that it 
is the only one in which the cure is effected by simple touch 
alone. At other times He employs other instrumentality in 
applying his power of cure, and of helping the faith of those 
who were to be cured, — the simple moisture of the mouth, or 
clay mixed with it. There is only one other instance of a 
blind man being healed by a simple word from Jesus. The 
reason probably was, that the blind being incapable of receiving 
visual impressions by which their faith might be aided, are, in 
gracious condescension to then- infirmity, aided by the sense of 
touch, which they could best apprehend. And even so are they 
still variously dealt with. The strong in faith have their faith 
tried ; the weak in faith have their faith strengthened. And so it 
is always. 

The presently subsequent cure of a dumb man possessed 
with a devil, is chiefly distinguished from others of the same 
kind, by the remark of the people that " It was never so seen 
in Israel ;" and by the attempt of the Pharisees to revive in 
connection with this the stupid and atrocious calumny, to which 
they had given vent when a similar miracle was performed, " He 
casteth out devils through the prince of devils." It strikes one 
with some surprise to see this charge specially associated with 
this form of miracle. In the former case, the man was blind 
and dumb ; in this, dumb. Pondering on this, it occurs to us 
that, as is usually the case, the persons were not only dumb 
but deaf. As, therefore, the person could not physically hear 
with his own ears the words of ejection addressed to the pos- 
sessing demon who used and acted through his organs, this 
was considered as the most difficult or incurable species of pos- 
session, beyond the reach of pretension of the popular exorcists, 
who therefore declared dispossession to be in such cases im- 
possible, but through some diabolical compact or influence. 
This intrepretation of the matter is confirmed by the fact, that 



310 THIRTY-SEVENTH WEEK MONDAY. 

the disciples, in our Lord's absence upon the Mount of Trans- 
figuration, attempted in vain to cast out a spirit possessing a 
lad who had been deaf and dumb from a child. And when 
they asked Him the cause of their failure, He said, primarily 
because of their unbelief ; but He added, " Howbeit, this kind 
goeth not out but by prayer and fasting." It was probably 
their preconceived sense of the difficulty of the case, which 
prevented them from exercising the faith requisite to effect the 
miracle. 

Our Lord now deemed it fit, that those who were hereafter 
to carry on his work on earth, should learn to act without his 
personal presence ; and that through them, the gospel of the 
kingdom should be more extensively proclaimed by their dis- 
persed and separate proceedings than it could be otherwise. 
The deeper mysteries of that kingdom, they did not themselves 
know, till they afterwards viewed it is a completed whole ; and 
this, therefore, they could not teach. What they did teach, 
or rather proclaim, was however a step in advance of John's 
teaching. He had preached, " Repent, for the kingdom of 
heaven is at hand." They preached, " Repent for the kingdom 
of God is come" " Repent, and believe the Gospel ;" and on this 
text, they doubtless amplified in their addresses — speaking of 
their Lord, what He had done, and what they had heard Him 
say, and declaring their belief that He was the long-desired, 
long-expected Christ of God. 

They were also empowered to authenticate their mission by 
miracles. In performing these, they no doubt acted vicariously, 
as in later times, in the name of Jesus of Nazareth ; and in 
the brief account of their proceedings, the curious circumstance 
transpires, that " they anointed with oil many that were sick, 
and healed them." Jesus never did this ; and as this anointing 
the sick with oil was a common practice among the Jews, it 
must have helped to give a kind of secondary aspect to their 
proceedings. Whether this was that they sought, from a. 
modest reluctance to seem to emulate their Master in this re- 
spect, or whether defective faith rendered this help necessary 
to themselves, cannot be said. 



MIRACLES AND MURDER. 311 

« esus sent them not forth uninstructed in the course they 
were to take, and the duties they were to discharge. They 
were to limit their movements to the Jewish districts, not going 
among the Samaritans or the Gentiles, for it was necessary that 
this Gospel of the kingdom should be first of all fully preached 
to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. He taught them that 
they were to go forth to the discharge of their office without 
any anxious care for the future. They were going forth on 
God's work, and they might rely upon it, that God would pro- 
vide for all their wants; and in every place to which they 
came, they were to accept the first hospitality that offered, 
without seeking better, or moving from house to house. And 
having thus attached themselves to one household, that would 
become the centre of operations to them. They were not to 
expect all things to go smoothly. Much persecution and 
many trials awaited them ; and very often the word they 
taught, would seem a word of strife and division in families. 
But their cause and their safety were in God's keeping. He 
would protect them ; He would vindicate their cause ; and 
whatever came to pass, they had this comfort — " Whosoever 
confesses my name before men, him will I confess before my 
Father, which is in heaven." 

How long they were away, we know not. But when they 
returned, they seem to have been satisfied with their success, or 
with the attention with which their message had been heard, 
while they gratefully acknowledge that, in following their 
Lord's instructions, they had lacked nothing. 

In the meantime, by his own acts and preachings, and by 
theirs, the fame of Jesus was made familiar to all wide Galilee ; 
and his proceedings and claims became the general theme of 
conversation. There was an extraordinary variety of opinions 
concerning Him. His conduct was so different from that 
which the nation generally had associated with the idea of the 
Messiah, that there were not many as yet, who fully recognised 
Him in that character. Some thought He might be John the 
Baptist raised from the dead — for he had been ere this put to 
death by Herod. Others deemed that He might be Elias, or 



312 THIRTY-SEVENTH WEEK-— MONDAY. 

one of the old prophets come as a further harbinger of the 
Messiah; and the general disposition, among those well in- 
formed as to John's preaching and mission, was to place Him 
above John, and next to the Messiah, but not to regard Him 
as himself the Messiah. This, indeed, is the opinion which we 
have supposed John himself to have been for a moment inclined 
to entertain, when he sent his disciples to question Jesus. 

All these opinions were discussed at court, for Jesus was 
now too conspicuous to be overlooked there. Herod himself 
said : " John have I beheaded ; but who is this of whom I hear 
such great things ?" — and he expressed a wish to see Him. 

John had met his end in this manner. We have seen that 
it was not Herod's intention to put him to death, partly because 
he was afraid to do so. But his more wicked and less scrupu- 
lous wife thirsted for the prophet's blood, not only out of re- 
venge, but as a measure of prudence and security to herself. 
The mere fact that he was there as a prisoner, must ever keep 
alive in the minds of the people, and of the king himself, for 
what cause he was there — for declaring the marriage between 
Herod and Herodias null and void ; and who could say but 
that at any moment of discontent or remorse, or to gratify the 
people, with whom the marriage was unpopular and scandalous, 
the king might send her away from him ? She had tried her 
influence upon Herod often enough, to know that it was use- 
less to attempt to gain his consent to this murder in any direct 
way ; and she therefore laid a deep plot to extort that consent 
unwillingly from him. 

It was his birth-day, which was celebrated with high festivi- 
ties at court. The Jews generally disliked the celebration of 
birth-days ; and this was one of the heathen customs which 
the Herodian family had adopted from the Romans. On the 
present occasion, Herod gave a great supper to " his lords, high 
captains, and chief estates ;" and before it closed, a fair young 
girl, to whom Herod was greatly attached, was introduced, 
and commenced one of those solo dances for which the East 
has long been celebrated. That fair child was Salome, the 
daughter of Herodias by her former husband. With sucfa 



MIRACLES AND MURDER. 



313 



marvellous grace and thrilling effect did she perform this dance, 
that Herod, already warm with wine, became excited, and in 
the fervor of his enthusiasm, vowed that she should have what- 
ever she asked — even to the half of his kingdom. Little could 
he imagine what this child had been tutored by her wicked 
mother to ask ; and he was shocked and grieved when, instead 
of some costly bauble, she asked for the head of John the Bap- 
tist. The sternest man there must have shuddered to hear 
from those beautiful young lips the blood-thirsty request, so 
atrociously specific — "Bring me here the head of John the 
Baptist in a charger." John is not only to lose his head, but 
the bleeding trophy is to be brought to her — it is to be brought 
to her there — that there may be no evasion — that the high 




lords, who have heard the vow, may witness its fulfilment. 
Then she tells how it is to be brought. Not in any careless 
way, not in a napkin, not held by the hair, but in a dish ; so 
vol. in. 14 



314 THIRTY-SEVENTH WEEK TUESDAY. 

that she — that young girl — may receive it into her own hands, 
and take it where she pleased, without danger of soiling her 
rich dress with a prophet's blood. This is frightful. It was 
don«, nevertheless. His oath having been given, false pride 
prevented him from revoking it, notwithstanding his regret, 
*nd notwithstanding he must have felt that the infraction of 
»uch an oath was a far less crime than its fulfilment, and not- 
withstanding he must have seen very well to whose diabolical 
machinations this entanglement was owing. A man was sent 
to behead John in his prison ; and presently it was brought to 
the young princess, who, doubtless, received it with becoming 
grace, and bore it off daintily to her mother. That the girl 
could go through all this, however well tutored, seems to show 
that Salome was indeed a true daughter of Herodias. How 
she received this precious gift we are not told ; but there is an 
old tradition, that she drew forth the still warm tongue that 
had rebuked her crimes, and vengefully transfixed it with her 
bodkin. 



THIRTY-SEVENTH WEEK— TUESDAY. 

THE CRISIS. 

matt xiv. 13-36 ; mark vi. 30-56 ; luke ix. 10-1*7 ; john vi. 

The excitement among the people concerning Jesus was 
very high when the apostles returned to Capernaum, and it 
was so much increased by their return, that it was impossible 
to obtain in the city the rest and repose which was greatly 
needed. Mark says, " there was so many coming and going," 
that " they had no leisure so much as to eat." It was perhaps 
expected that, being now joined by his chief disciples, Jesus 
would no longer hesitate to declare himself the Messiah — such 
a Messiah as they wanted. The Passover was at hand, when 
they were all going to Jerusalem, and they seem to have cal- 
culated that, availing himself of the occasion, He would place 
himself at their head as king, and lead on the pilgrim host, 



THE CRISIS. 315 

increasing as it went, to the holy city to expel the Romans 
and take possession of David's throne. 

Seeing that no repose was to be had in the city, Jesus 
proposed to seek it at some quiet spot in the wilderness. It 
is doubted whether this was on the other side of the lake, or 
on the same side across a bay. Jesus went by water ; and the 
fact that the crowd was able in a short time, and without ap- 
parent obstruction to reach the same place by land, is in favor 
of the latter conclusion, as the upper Jordan (which in the other 
case must have been crossed by them), is, as well as the lower, 
in flood, and unfordable at and about the time of the Passover. 

Finding their retreat thus intruded upon by the multitude, 
Jesus no longer avoided them, but proceeded to preach to 
them, and to heal such among them as were diseased. Thus 
the hours passed, and it grew towards evening, when the want 
of needful food for this multitude became apparent. They 
had not taken any since they left home ; and they had not in 
their haste and excitement brought any with them. None 
could be had in that desert place ; or, if a town had been suf- 
ficiently near (as perhaps Bethsaida may have been), it could 
hardly have met the sudden demands of five thousand people, 
without counting women and children. 

Under these circumstances Jesus said to Philip, " Whence 
shall we buy bread that these may eat ?" Some think that 
He addressed Philip in particular, because the charge of pro- 
viding food was entrusted to him. But the evangelist says it 
was " to try him ;" our Lord having already predetermined 
what to do. He had doubtless perceived in this disciple a 
disposition to rest on lower views, a certain heaviness in elevat- 
ing himself to higher and more spiritual things. This is seen 
not only in his reply here, but in the only other words ascribed 
to him in the Gospels, and in which his spiritual inapprehen- 
siveness is as painfully evinced.* The trial seems to have 
been in this — that Jesus meant by his question to suggest to 

* John xiv. 8. " Show ris the Father, and it sufficeth us." Observe 
also our Lord's reply : " Have I been so long time with you, and yet 
hast thou not known me, Philip ?" 



S16 THIRTY-SEVENTH WEEK TUESDAY. 

his mind the idea of miraculous relief. It is likely that some 
of the apostles, if they had heen asked this question, would 
have answered, that He, who had raised the dead, could doubt- 
less supply this want. However, Philip took the lowest pos- 
sible view of the exigency. He did not even think of the 
difficulty of obtaining bread on any terms in that place. He 
thought only of the large sum it would cost — a sum far 
beyond their means — to purchase even so much bread as 
would furnish a morsel to each. He exclaimed with astonish- 
ment, that "Two hundred pennyworth of bread is not suffi- 
cient for them, that every one of them may take a little," — 
clearly implying, that among all of them, or rather in the 
common purse, so much money was not to be found.* 

Andrew, falling into the same low view, observed, there was 
a lad there from whom five barley loaves and two small fishes 
might be obtained : " But," he added, " what are they among 
so many ?" 

Jesus, however, directed the apostles to make the people sit 
down in an orderly manner upon the green grass. He then 
took the loaves and fishes, and looking up to heaven, He 
blessed them. This custom was not peculiar to Jesus, but 
common among the Jews at their meals. It was indeed held 
by them, that " he who partakes of anything without giving 
thanks, acts as if he were stealing it from God !" The prayer 
of thanks was always pronounced by the father of the family ; 
and Jesus never neglects it. 

Having thus blessed the loaves and fishes, He broke them 
up, and gave the portions to the disciples, who distributed 
them to the multitude, — and there was enough for all the five 
thousand out of these five loaves and two small fishes. There 
was indeed more than enough. When the remains of this 
humble but ample feast were gathered up, they filled twelve 
baskets, — so that, in fact, there was more at the end than at 
the beginning. 

* The coin unhappily rendered a " penny" in the authorized version 
was the Roman denarius, equal to 6d. or 7d. of our money ; so that 
the whole sum Philip had in view was about five pounds. 



THE CRISIS. 317 

The people were charmed by this miracle ; and it worked 
up to the highest pitch their enthusiasm in behalf of the 
recognition of Jesus as the Messiah. Might not this, indeed, 
betaken as the commencement of his reign? Hitherto his 
acts had been those of individual beneficence. But here was 
a public act, performed in the sight of thousands, and of which 
thousands had shared the benefit. Who so fit to be their 
king as He who could banish want and labor from their bor- 
ders, and revive the good old times when their fathers were 
fed by bread from heaven ? Perceiving the dangerous ten- 
dency of this strong excitement, and that they were likely to 
compel Him to go with them, and to proclaim Him king of 
Israel without his consent, our Lord directed the disciples to 
get off to their boat, and return across the lake. Seeing that 
Jesus remained behind, the people did not oppose this move- 
ment ; and it being too late for them to return by land, they 
dispersed themselves among the villages, or remained in the 
open air, expecting to find Jesus among them in the morning. 

But He remained behind, and retired to a mountain, where 
He enjoyed one of those opportunities of solitary prayer which 
He valued greatly, and of which He had of late been so much 
deprived. 

The disciples seem to have waited for some time off the 
shore, in the expectation that Jesus would join them ; but find- 
ing that He did not come, and supposing that He had gone 
round by land, they commenced their voyage. A storm -then 
arose, which still further retarded their progress, by compelling 
them to lower their sails and take to their oars. From these 
causes they were, by the early morning (at five or six o'clock), 
still far from their destination. 

From the place of his solitude, Jesus could observe the 
storm on the lake ; and reflecting upon the embarrassment of 
his disciples, He hastened to their assistance. He walked upon 
the sea, by the same power with which He rules over nature, 
and approached their vessel. The disciples were greatly 
alarmed. This was entirely unusual, and beyond all exped- 
ience ; and although they could see the figure was that of 



818 THIRTY-SEVENTH WEEK — TUESDAY. 

Jesus, they thought it was rather his ghost than himself. But 
in haste to reassure them, He called out, " It is I — be not 
afraid." And they knew that, if it were He, they had nothing 
to fear. Peter, always impulsive, and prompted by that love 
which made him always desire to be where his Lord was, 
cried out, " Since it is Thou, bid me come unto Thee on the 
water." What need ? Only the need of a strong and deep 
spirit, which felt at that moment, and was apt to feel, a crav- 
ing to signalize the strength of its devoted attachment, by 
some act of hardy affiance to the sovereign object of its trust. 
Yet there was presumption in it, as appeared by the result ; 
and in the quick collapse of his high spirit on the present oc- 
casion, we witness a foreshadowing of Peter's greater fall. 
Jesus told him that he might come ; and he went. But when 
he got upon the water, and not only saw but felt the boister- 
ous waves, his heart failed him, and he began to fear that he 
should perish. ISTo sooner did he begin to think that he 
should sink, than he did begin to sink ; but his Lord had pity 
upon him; and in answer to his cry, "Lord, save me," held 
out his hand to save and to sustain him — with the gentle re- 
buke, " thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?" 
He had not erred in thinking that he might in safety walk the 
waters, when his Lord bade him come, and when he had faith 
to go. But a doubt is too heavy for any one to carry who 
would walk the waters ; and Peter's doubt had sunk him into 
the deep, but that the Lord had mercy upon him. 

Meanwhile the people on the other side of the lake vainly 
sought Jesus there in the morning. Not being able to find 
Him, and knowing that there had been no other boat than 
that in which the disciples embarked, they concluded that He 
must have gone round by land, and conceived that if they 
could cross by water, they should reach the opposite shore 
before Him, so as to meet Him on his arrival. So, as by this 
time boats had come over from the opposite towns, many of 
the more ardent persons took passage in them. 

When they arrived they heard with amazement that Jesus 
was already come, an^ had gone to the synagogue. Thither 



THE CRISIS. 3 J 

they followed Him, and questioned Him concerning his arrival ; 
but not satisfying their curiosity, nor acquainting them with 
the miracle by which his glory had been further manifested, 
He at once referred to the real grounds of that disposition 
which had led them to seek Him. " Ye seek Me not because 
ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves and 
were filled." The people stood there ready — with the excep- 
tion of the Pharisees — to receive his declarations, to acknowl- 
edge his claim, to hail Him king ; and He on his part was 
resolved to speak out too plainly to be misunderstood as to 
the real nature of his kingdom, and by dashing their terres- 
trial hopes, once and for ever, relieve himself from the grief 
and embarrassment which such misunderstanding of his pur- 
poses occasioned. Taking, as it were, his text from what had 
just transpired, He proceeded to show that the nourishment 
He had to offer was not of this world, it was nourishment for 
the soul. It was of Him, and in Him, and through Him ; and 
none but those who, by the appropriating appetite of faith, 
made this nourishment their own, could hope for enduring 
life, however high their pretensions and privileges. In declar- 
ing that " He was the bread that came down from heaven ;" 
that " the bread which He gave was his flesh," which He 
" gave for the life of the world," He touched upon the higher 
mysteries of the atonement, which they could then but imper- 
fectly understand ; but the discourse, as a whole, was a per- 
fectly intelligible death-blow to the temporal hopes and views 
of the people. Its calm and purely spiritual tone grated 
harshly upon their present excited feeling, because it was 
spiritual ; and as spiritual, it contained much at which Jewish 
pride, and the pride of human intellect, might take offence. 
Never was any discourse delivered by Jesus, the effect of which 
was more marked and signal. Even many of his disciples 
could not relish it, and were offended by it, and left Him. 
The desertion was so general, that He who that day might 
have mounted a throne amid the acclamations of assembled 
thousands, was, before its close, left almost, if not quite, alone, 
with his chosen few of the apostles. To them He said : " Will 



S20 THIRTY-SEVENTH WEEK WEDNESDAY. 

ye also go away ?" And the question drew from the true- 
hearted Peter the glorious declaration : " Lord, to whom 
should we go ? Thou hast the words of eternal life. And 
we believe, and are sure, that Thou art that Christ, the Son 
of the living God." 



THIRTY-SEVENTH WEEK.— WEDNESDAY. 

TRIALS OF FAITH. 

matt. xv. 21 ; xvi. 12 ; mark vii. 24 ; vm. 26. 

It has been seen that the Passover, being the third since 
the commencement of our Lord's ministry, was close at hand, 
at the time of the recent transactions. But Jesus did not go 
to Jerusalem at this Passover. The reason that He did not 
think it proper to proceed to Judea, but remained, even till the 
autumnal Feast of Tabernacles in Galilee, is that " the Jews 
sought to kill Him." The ruling Jewish authorities at Jeru- 
salem, had definitely concluded to take advantage of his ex- 
pected visit to the city at this Passover, to accomplish his de- 
struction; and as Jesus saw that absence presented the only 
natural means of prolonging his ministry to its due period, 
He postponed the lesser to the greater obligation. 

Even in Galilee He seems rather to have shunned observa- 
tion ; and we find Him appearing successively in the remote 
and less populous parts of the country. He had heard, doubt- 
less, that Herod's attention had been drawn towards Him, 
which, if He moved about with crowds attending his steps, 
might render Galilee as unsafe to Him as Judea had already 
become ; and there was still reason to apprehend, that in some 
moment of excited enthusiasm, the people might take up their 
former intention of setting Him at the head of a popular in- 
surrection, a danger He seems to have dreaded more than any 
other, for although this could not eventually frustrate the pur- 
pose which He came to accomplish, it might have left a stain and 
a suspicion upon his name and objects, of which the enemies of 
his cause in all ages would not have failed to take advantage. 



TRIALS OF FAITH. 321 

Thus we find Him further to the west than, as far as we 
know, He had yet been — even to the borders of Phoenicia. 
He reached a place where he wished to remain unknown, and 
" entered a house" there with his disciples. " But He could 
not be hid." The fame of Him had reached this remote quar- 
ter, and had penetrated into heathendom. A woman of that 
country learned that He had come into these parts, and having 
a daughter who was a demoniac, she would not be deterred by 
the consideration that He was a Jew, and she a heathen, from 
seeking his assistance. She sought the place where He dwelt, 
and seems to have applied in the first instance to the apostles 
to be admitted to their Master ; and on being repulsed by 
them, as one not entitled to any share in the blessings He could 
confer — and to them, indeed, the idea of any but Jews being 
entitled to share in them was distasteful — she concluded to 
await his coming forth. When she beheld Him, she cast her- 
self at his feet, imploring Him to heal her daughter. But He 
answered her not a word. This was doubtless in part to try 
her faith, as in the case of the two blind men, who had, in like 
manner, been at first unheeded ; and, seeing that his personal 
mission was to the house of Israel only, and the great com- 
mission of the Gospel to the heathen was not to be opened 
till after his ascension, it seems to have been expected by Him, 
that the most signal faith should be manifested to enable Him 
to infringe this rule of his own conduct ; and it would be still 
more needed to explain and justify this in the eyes even of his 
own disciples, who had deep prejudices on this point, and to 
whom, as well as to others, it was very desirable to show the 
strong constraint which the woman's faith laid upon Him. He 
saw that she had faith — He knew its exact measure ; and his 
conduct was framed to bring out its strongest manifestations. 
The silence of their Master, so very different from his usual pity- 
ing tenderness towards the distressed, was gratifying to the disci- 
ples, and suited the harsh temper with which, as Jews, they 
regarded all the heathen, calling them " dogs" and the like, as 
the Mohammedans now call Christians. Still, they required 
more active austerity towards this poor creature, and begged 

14* 






322 THIRTY-SEVENTH WEEK — WEDNESDAY. 

their Lord to send her away altogether. He then did speak, 
saying to her, " I am not sent but to the lost sheep of the 
house of Israel." This was a further triumph to the disciples, 
who must have heard these words with great approbation. 
And the woman — what could she reply ? Nothing. Yet there 
was that in what she had heard of Him, and in what she saw 
of Him now, which told her heart that He was not so harsh as 
He appeared ; that He could not, so far as He seemed, have 
shut up his sympathies within the narrow bounds of Jewish 
exclusiveness. She therefore only bowed herself low before 
Him, and in the 'deep anguish of her spirit, groaned forth, 
" Lord, help me !" But again He said, " It is not meet to take 
the children's bread and cast it unto the dogs." This was ex- 
ceedingly severe ; yet it struck her ears less harshly than it 
strikes ours. She knew that, in comparing the Jews to the 
children of God's family, and the heathen to the dogs without, 
He simply used the comparison and statement common among 
his people, as expressing the relation between them, without 
meaning to give personal offence — just as at present a Moslem 
will call one " an infidel," to his face, without meaning to be 
personally offensive, or even uncivil. 

One would suppose this answer enough to crush her hopes 
altogether. But it was not so. She had a faith that could 
not be discouraged, and would not be repulsed. Her faith was 
of the sort that conquers. Her reply was prompt and ready, 
the best absolutely that could be made. She did not dispute 
— she did not remonstrate — she did not even attempt to turn 
the edge of this thrust by renewed supplication. She accepted 
it with open bosom — she acquiesced in it. She and her's 
were, she admitted it, unworthy ; but there might be some 
hopes and blessings still for even her. She " claims no place 
within the temple; she is content to remain standing as a 
doorkeeper in the outer court, and only claiming the grace 
which befits the occupant of such a station."* " Truth, Lord ;" 
she cried, " yet even the dogs under the table, eat of the chil- 
dren's crumbs." To us it requires some reflection to see the 
* Olshausen. 



TRIALS OF FAITH. 323 

exquisite fitness of this rejoinder, and to understand the 
strength of the faith that could stand up under such reiterated 
discouragement. But Jesus felt it all in one moment ; and He 
was all the while, not merely hearing her words, but looking 
upon her heart. His voice altered, his countenance relaxed, 
and she beheld the King in all the beauty of his benignity and 
tenderness. He said to her, "0 woman, great is thy faith. 
For this saying, go thy way ; and be it unto thee, even as thou 
wilt. The devil is gone out of thy daughter." 

We next find Jesus by the shore of the sea of Galilee, where 
one was brought to Him who " was deaf and had an impedi- 
ment in his speech." This shows that he had not been born 
deaf, or he would not have possessed even the imperfect use 
of speech ; but had either become deaf before the organs of 
speech had acquired their full strength, or had been so long 
deaf as to have partially lost, by the disuse of talk, the full 
command of them. This man Jesus took aside, why, we know 
not, unless that the mode of operation, intended by Him as a 
help to the man's faith, might be desecratingly imitated by 
others as an efficient instrument of cure. Having the man 
apart, Jesus put his fingers into his ears, and then touched his 
tongue with the moisture of his own mouth. These were 
without doubt symbolic actions intended to call out, in one not 
accessible to sound, the strongest faith in, and expectation of, 
the blessings about to be imparted. Our Lord then looked up 
to heaven, to let the man, already accustomed to the language 
of action, understand that the power about to relieve him was 
altogether from heaven, and not in any way of earth ; and thus 
to prevent him from misinterpreting the preceding actions 
as of themselves helpful to his cure. As He looked, He sighed 
deeply at the thought of the infinite miseries which sin had 
brought down upon the race of man, and then He said to the 
shut ear and the bound up tongue, Ephphatha, " Be opened," 
and at that instant the man's utterance became free, and he 
heard once more the music of man's voice. 

After this, and being now in the localities familiar with his 
presence, fresh crowds began to gather to him ; and on one oc- 



324 THIRTY-SEVENTH WEEK WEDNESDAY. 

casion He again supplied miraculously with food an assemblage 
of four thousand persons, besides women and children. This 
miracle is in its general character like the former — so like, in- 
deed, as to have suggested to some that they are merely differ- 
ent reports of the same event. But a close inspection discloses 
essential variations, which show the two transactions to have 
been really different. On the former occasion five thousand 
persons were present, but now four ; then these j)ersons had 
only been with Jesus part of one day, but now they had been 
three days in attendance upon Him. The provision, too, was 
then only five loaves and two fishes, but it is now somewhat 
larger, being seven loaves ; and the fragments that remained 
filled in the former instance twelve baskets, but in this not 
more than seven. 

A subsequent visit to Bethsaida is distinguished by the cure 
of a blind man. In this case also our Lord took the man 
aside, even out of the town, and touched his eyes, and anointed 
them with saliva, obviously for the same reason as just noticed 
in the case of the man deaf and dumb. What distinguishes 
this miracle most from other cures of blind men, is the pro- 
gression of the cure. After having once touched his eyes, our 
Lord asked him if he saw aught. He answered, that he " saw 
men as trees, walking." Jesus then touched his eyes again, 
and when he once more looked up, he saw clearly. Or, it 
may be, that although his sight was perfectly restored at first, 
he still wanted that distinctness of visual perception which is 
usually only acquired by some experience, but which was here 
imparted by the second touch. It is observable that Jesus did 
not in the first instance utter any words, such as " Be opened," 
which had been an imperative and absolute command. He, 
therefore, doubtless meant that it should be with the man ac- 
cording to his faith, and that being somewhat weak, sufficed 
not for his perfect cure ; but his faith being strengthened by 
the attainment of even imperfect vision, the second application 
became effectual. The man's observation that he saw men as 
trees walking, shows he had been born blind. As the figures 
moved, he concluded they were men ; but as the images were 



THE TRANSFIGURATION. 325 

indistinct and shapeless, they rather met his idea of trees and 
he would have thought them trees but that they walked — a 
comparison the more proper to his condition, as he could have 
had little idea of trees but from their trunks, with which he 
had often come in contact, and among which he had often 
groped. He had also known, by touch, the height of a man, 
but could not thus realize the height of a tree, and was there- 
fore not very sensible of the difference between the stature of 
a man and that of a tree. 

When the child whose eyes were couched by Cheselden 
first saw, " he knew not the shape of anything, nor any one 
thing from another, however different in shape or magnitude, 
but being told what the things were, whose form he before 
knew from feeling, he would carefully observe that he might 
know them aofain." 



THIRTY-SEVENTH WEEK— TEURSI/A Y. 

THE TRANSFIGURATION. 

matt. xvi. 13-xvn. 21 ; mark viii. 27-ix. 29 ; LUKE IX. 18-43 

Cesarea-Philippi, or Philip's Cesarea, was so called to 
distinguish it from another and mere important city of the 
same name upon the coast, and derived its distinctive desig- 
nation from the tetrarch Herod-Philip (not the husband of 
Herodias), in whose territory it lay. It was, therefore, a 
modern town— but, perhaps, upon the site of the ancient Dan ; 
and being away remote near one of the springs of the river 
Jordan, and far beyond the limits of Herod's dominion, the 
district had probably been sought by our Saviour as a place 
of temporary retirement and retreat. 

It was in this neighborhood that our Lord questioned the 
disciples as to the opinions entertained of Him. The answer 
hac been already stated by anticipation. But now when Jesus 
farther asked — " But whom say ye that I am V Peter an- 
swered for the rest — " Thou art the Christ, the Son of the 



&26 THIRTY-SEVENTH WEEK THURSDAY. 

living God." Peter had made virtually the same declaration 
not long before ; and Jesus had simply remarked, that notwith- 
standing this declaration made on behalf of all, there was one 
among the chosen twelve who would prove a traitor to the 
conviction thus expressed. He was then, apparently, not 
willing to enter into the Messianic question, on which He knew 
that their views were still erroneous, because the time was not 
come to explain ail things distinctly even to them. Therefore, 
although, as it seems to us, they had got so far in advance of 
the mass of their countrymen as to believe that the kingdom 
He came to establish was not one of vulgar conflict, conquest, 
and glory, they did believe that it was to be a visible earthly 
kingdom of truth, righteousness, justice, and blessing. But 
now, Jesus being ready to enlighten them farther, received the 
declaration of Peter with marked emphasis of approbation. 
The apostles were highly elated by this supposed confirmation 
of their views ; and doubtless supposed that He was now at 
last about to declare himself openly ; and they felt that when 
He thought fit to do this, among a people already willing to 
receive Him in that character, his miraculous powers would 
suffice to silence all opposition, and to seat him on the throne 
of David. 

These hopes were somewhat damped, when, the instant 
after He had received and plainly responded to their recog- 
nition, He strictly enjoined them to let no man know that He 
was the Christ. 

Still more were they disheartened when, from that time 
forward — when their hopes had been raised so high — He 
began to talk to them plainly — to them, not to the people at 
large — of things that had only been at times obscurely hinted 
at before : " how that the Son of man must suffer many things, 
and be rejected by the elders, chief-priests, and scribes, and be 
raised again the third day." This degrading contrast to the 
visions of glory which had but just now dazzled their aching 
sight, was too painful, too incomprehensible, to be borne 
without remonstrance by such men as the disciples. Peter 
again took upon him to express the general feeling — beside? 



THE TRANSFIGURATION. 327 

ihat his love for his Master revolted from the images of dis- 
honor which were thus presented. He began to rebuke Him. 
Peter began to rebuke Jesus ! He said, " Be it far from Thee, 
Lord : this shall not be unto Thee !" Little did he know 
then — but he knew well afterwards — that the destinies of the 
world hung upon that being done which he said should not 
be done ; and that his puny " shall not" was a denial of the 
" shall" which had been uttered in the eternal counsels of 
God. Jesus, who in this beheld, with pain, the instinctive 
abhorrence of the natural mind to the doctrines of the Cross, 
replied by a rebuke, the severity of which comes out strongly 
in contrast with the commendation the same apostle had lately 
received. Here was another of the " falls" to which the over- 
confidence of Peter continually subjects him. 

In the close of the discourse which our Lord then addressed 
to the disciples, He clearly pointed out that the glory which 
they had expected to attend the present coming of the Messiah 
was reserved for a future time. And He now purposed to 
encourage them, to strengthen their faith, and to advance their 
views of his character and office, by affording them a glimpse 
of that glory which essentially belonged to Him. 

Six days after He had opened their eyes, but not yet their 
understandings, with regard to the humiliations awaiting Him ; 
and while they still pondered with depressed spirits on a mat- 
ter which they regarded with dismay and aversion, and which 
they found it so difficult to reconcile with his previous distinct 
admission that He was the Christ of God — they arrived, 
towards evening, at a mountain, the name and situation of 
which is unknown, but which is generally conceived to be 
Mount Tabor. This supposes they had meanwhile come into 
Galilee, which is, indeed, on other grounds sufficiently likely. 
Into this mountain our Lord withdrew for quiet prayer, leaving 
the body of his disciples below, and taking with Him only the 
three always favored apostles, Peter, James, and John. Here 
He seems to have retired a little apart from them, though still 
within sight and hearing; and, as He continued long in 
prayer, they, under the pressure of fatigue and unrest, fell 



328 THIRTY-SEVENTH WEEK — THURSDAY. 

asleep. They were awakened suddenly by a glare of light ; 
and then, to their great amazement, they saw that a great 
change had passed over their Master. " His face did shine as 
the sun ; and his raiment was white as the light." And He 
was not alone ; for two glorified beings appeared beside Him, 
conversing with Him ; and the bewildered apostles knew that 
they were Moses and Elias — the chiefs of the law and the 
prophets, who came, as it were, to give testimony and homage 
to the Consummator, who had in these latter days appeared 
to finish the work, which they had in their day been employed 
to advance and prepare. And what was the subject of their 
conversation ? " They spake of the decease* which He should 
accomplish at Jerusalem. This must have greatly surprised 
the apostles, and no less have edified them. They saw that 
the matter, from the very idea of which their souls shrank, 
was familiar to Moses and to Elias, and, therefore, as they 
would infer, one of deep and solemn interest in the courts of 
heaven. This impression was made, and bore good fruit there- 
after ; but at the moment, Peter having the two ideas of his 
Lord's glory and of his humiliation presented to his mind, 
thrust the latter aside, and rested wholly upon the former. 
He fancied that now at last his Master had assumed his visible 
Messianic glory; and that thus introduced and inaugurated 
by Moses and Elias, his reign would commence from that 
hour, and that, perhaps, this very mountain was to become the 
seat of his power. He cried out, "Lord, it is good to be 
here !" That was, indeed, most true ; and he felt what he 
said. But he added — " If Thou wilt, let us build three taber- 
nacles ; one for Thee, one for Moses, and one for Elias." 
Luke says, that in uttering these words, Peter did not know 
what he said ; which seems to imply that he expressed merely 
a vague impression, without grasping the full purport and 
effect of his own words. The idea in his mind seems to have 
been founded on a fear that Moses and Elias should disappear, 
before the effect which he supposed might be produced by 

* Literally exodus, a departure — that is, departure from this life, 
and, therefore, properly death. 



THE TRANSFIGURATION. 329 

their presence, could be realized ; and, therefore, he would 
detain them with Jesus, and provide them with booths for 
their seclusion and shelter, while he and the others went about 
to proclaim this manifestation, and direct the multitude to 
repair to the mountains to render homage to their lawgiver, 
their prophet, and their Messiah. There was an offensive 
equalization of the three in this mode of expression ; and 
while he yet spake, they were enclosed in a far different taber- 
nacle — a tabernacle of bright cloud, which gathered around 
them upon that mountain-top, and hid them from view. Then 
a voice was heard saying — " This is my beloved Son, in whom 
I am well pleased : Hear ye Him." As the beloved Son, He 
was far greater than Moses and Eli as, who were but servants ; 
and they were henceforth to hear Him — Him only. When 
the cloud of light melted into thin air, Jesus remained alone, 
and had resumed his ordinary appearance, except that, perhaps, 
a Divine effulgence lingered on his face, as on that of Moses 
when he descended from the Mount. 

One of the evangelists records a short but important con- 
versation on the subject of this manifestation which took place 
between Jesus and his three disciples. Fully acknowledging, 
on the evidence before them, the absolute certainty that their 
Master was indeed the Messiah, on which their convictions had 
at times wavered, they now ask, " How then say the scribes 
that Elias must first come V That is, since Thou art come as 
the Messiah, how is it that Elias, as we have now seen him, did 
not precede Thee ? He replied that Elias had preceded Him ; 
and went on so to speak as to show them that He referred to 
John the Baptist. 

The disciples below had meanwhile been applied to by a 
distressed father to heal his son, a lad possessed by a devil, who 
seems to have kept him in the condition of a deaf and dumb 
lunatic, subject to strong paroxysms of violence and pain. The 
disciples were unable to effect this cure, and some scribes, who 
had by this time gathered around, were questioning them and 
taunting them upon their failure, when Jesus appeared. The 
disciples were glad to shelter themselves under the broad shield 



330 THIRTY-SEVENTH WEEK — THURSDAY. 

of their Master's protection, who sternly called the attention of 
the scribes to himself as One ready to answer all they could 
allege, and to do every work of God. They held back, how- 
ever, and the father of the lad came forward, and respectfully 
explained the case. Jesus directed the lad to be brought to 
Him, who no sooner came near, than he fell to the ground 
wallowing and foaming there. Jesus asked, how long it had 
been thus with him, and was told from infancy ; the father add- 
ing — "But if Thou canst do any thing, have compassion upon 
us, and help us. " It is clear that the scribes had succeeded in 
raising a doubt as to the power of the Master to accomplish that 
in which the disciples had failed. But Jesus said, " If thou canst 
believe : all things are possible to him that believeth" The 
poor man, greatly agitated, even to tears, made the memorable 
answer, which remains as a precious gift to the church in all 
ages — " Lord, I believe, help Thou mine unbelief." Nothing 
more was needed — Jesus made no remark. This faith was of 
a kind to ask the response of acts, not words. And Jesus did 
act signally. There was nothing intermediate, as usual in such 
cases — none of the customary appliances and seeming instru- 
mentalities. He did not take the lad aside — He did not touch 
him — He made no applications to his ears or mouth ; but 
covering the failure of his disciples with the glory of his own 
acts, He commanded the unclean spirit to quit the child, and 
enter into him no more. The parting throe was, indeed, ter- 
rible, and the boy lay as dead upon the ground. But Jesus 
raised him by the hand, and delivered him, perfectly restored, 
to his father. 

The sensation produced by this miracle was very great. It 
was attested by the crowds which Jesus had seen running from 
all quarters, and which had, perhaps, made Him hasten his 
proceedings. " They were all amazed at the mighty power of 
God." 



THE TRIBUTE MONEY. 331 

THIRTY-SEVENTH WEEK— FRIDAY. 

THE TRIBUTE MONEY. 
MATTHEW XVII. 22 XVIII. 35 ; MARK IX. 30-50 ; LUKE IX. 43— 

x. 16. 

Jesus had, at the foot of the Mount, joined the general body 
of his disciples, and, after the cure of the demoniac, proceeded 
on his way. Aware that this remarkable miracle, and the 
manner in which his mere presence had silenced the scribes, 
were likely to exalt the ordinary expectations of his disciples ; 
and conscious that the three favored apostles had gathered 
nourishment to the like expectations from what they had wit- 
nessed on the Mount, our Lord again spoke very plainly of his 
betrayal, his death, and his resurrection. Nothing could be 
plainer than his words, to which He bespoke their earnest at- 
tention : " Let these sayings sink deep into your ears." But 
it is said that " they did not understand" — mainly, no doubt, 
because they were not willing to understand — how it was pos- 
sible that such humiliation, which would seem to frustrate all 
their hopes and expectations, could consist with the earthly 
greatness of the Messiah in which they expected to share. This 
idea they could not dismiss, and they could not make it com- 
patible with the other, which was not so strenuously enforced 
upon them. Their master could have explained ; but " they 
were afraid to ask Him," having in remembrance the strong 
rebuke which Peter had received ; and Peter himself, usually 
so forward, being further restrained by the fresh impression of 
what he had witnessed on the Mount. It is also to be recol- 
lected, that in these distressing intimations their future benefit, 
still more than their present enlightenment, was what Jesus 
had in view. "When the events should occur, it ought to pre- 
vent them from concluding that all was lost — that the object 
of his coming had been frustrated — or that unfounded pre- 
tensions had been advanced by himself; for they would per- 
ceive that nothing had happsned which He had not foreseen, 
and expected, and declared to be inevitable and necessary. 



332 THIRTY-SEVENTH WEEK FRIDAY. 

And after all had passed, their faith would be strengthened by- 
remembering his declarations, that this humiliation was not 
only consistent with the purpose for which He came into the 
world, but was the very purpose itself. Conceive how it would 
have been with them, if what afterwards took place — the be- 
trayal, the agony, the torture, the death — had seemed to them 
to have taken Him by surprise — had manifestly been contrary 
to his expectations, and against his will. Could they, then, 
have reached any other conclusion than that He had either 
imposed upon them or deceived himself? All this was pre- 
vented by these previous declarations to the disciples, and al- 
though more covertly, to the multitude : by which He shut 
out for ever those doubts and cavils which would have filled 
the mouths of his enemies, had not these precautions been 
taken. 

The disciples understood enough, however, at this time, to 
be " very sorry." They loved not less than they reverenced 
their Lord, and the bare idea that He might possibly be ex- 
posed to ignomy, maltreatment, and suffering, filled their hearts, 
with grief. This was natural. They had not been worthy to 
walk with Him, had they felt otherwise. 

But nothing our Lord could say, however plain, made any 
permanent impression during his lifetime. As the stomach as- 
similates that which is congenial to it, and rejects that which 
is not, so they were always ready in forgetting these intima- 
tions of his humiliation, while they zealously seized at, and trea- 
sured up, all the ideas of Messianic glory which circumstances 
afforded, or which any of his acts and sayings appeared to present. 

This must be needfully remembered, by those who would 
rightly understand the remainder or our Lord's career in rela- 
tion to his disciples. 

The next incident in that career requires to be introduced by 
the statement, that there was payable from every adult male 
among the Jews the sum of half a shekel yearly for the treasury 
of the temple. There is a regulation to this effect in Exod. 
xxx. 11-16, but it is far from certain that it was intended to be 
a yearly payment. It came, however, to be so understood, and 



THE TRIBUTE MONEY. 



333 



was in general paid very willingly to the appointed collectors 
by all Jews, even by those who dwelt in foreign parts. Tho 
sum rnay be taken as equal to fifteen pence. It was at first 
like all other payments, made in weighed silver. But the 
Maccabees having coined money into shekels, half shekels, etc., 
the temple dues were paid in this coinage. In our Lord's 
time, however, these coins had become scarce, and for the pur- 
pose of this payment the Graeco-Roman didrachmon (double 
drachma) was taken to represent the half shekel, and was so 




generally used for this purpose that the tax itself came to be 
distinguished by the name of the coin in which it was paid. It 
should be observed, however, that, although the people usually 
paid the collectors in this coin, the coin itself could not be paid 
into the temple on account of the symbols and effigies, deemed 
idolatrous, with which it was charged, and had to be changed 
for Jewish money at Jerusalem. Hence the vocation of the 
"money changers" whom our Lord expelled from the temple. 
It should be added, that it was in a great measure a voluntary 
impost, — that is, no one was forced to pay it, or punishable for 
not paying it ; but he who neglected it would be considered a 
bad Jew, and an irreligious person. 

Now, the payment of this temple tribute accrued by the time 
our Lord returned to Capernaum. As they passed through 
'the street, the collectors — who were respected men, and not 
contemned like the publicans who collected the Roman taxes — 
accosted Peter, who was some way behind, and asked him if 
his Master paid the didrachmon. With characteristic haste he 



334 THIRTY-SEVENTH WEEK FRIDAY. 

answered in the affirmative, thus virtually pledging Jesus to 
pay a tax to which, on his part, some serious objections might 
reasonably be entertained. It was important that this matter 
should be put on a right footing before the minds of the disci- 
ples. When, therefore, they had entered the house, and Peter 
was about to explain this circumstance, Jesus anticipated him, 
and showed that He already knew all that had passed, by ask- 
ing the question : " Of whom do the kings of the earth take 
custom or tribute : of their children [sons] or of strangers ?" 
Peter said, " Of strangers :" to which Jesus rejoined, " Then 
are the children free." Here the argument is very clear, — 
Kings do not take tribute of their sons ; but the temple was 
his Father's house, and, therefore, no claim could be rightly 
made upon Him for this payment. Still it was his purpose to 
pay it, to avoid giving needless offence — and lest it should be 
imputed to Him that He was an enemy of the temple, and 
sought its ruin, by setting the example of withholding the tax 
on which its maintenance chiefly depended. But He had not 
the money — not fifteen pence ! Still there is no question that 
this small sum might have been procured in some way without 
much difficulty, and there was no positive need of a miracle to 
supply the want. But our Lord saw fit to connect in the 
minds of his disciples, this voluntary humiliation on his part, 
with an act which might re-assert the dignity which might, by 
this concession, seem to have been somewhat compromised. 
He desired Peter to go down to the lake and cast in a hook, 
and in the first fish that came up to it, he would find a stater — - 
a coin equal to four drachmae — and therefore to double the 
amount required for a single person. " That take, and give 
them for Me and for thee." In this single instance we are not 
informed of the result of the procedure ; but we cannot doubt, 
that it is sufficiently indicated in the directions thus given. 
Fish are easily caught in this mode in the same lake at this day, 
and it is not unusual for travellers at Tiberias to order a dinner 
of fish, and presently to see a man returning from the lake 
with an ample supply, which he has taken by hook and line 
from the shore. It is also the nature of most fish to catch at 



THE TRIBUTE MONEY. 335 

anything bright ; and hence there are numerous anecdotes of 
articles in precious metal being found in fishes. The wonder 
is not here, but in the fact that, as foretold by his Lord, the first 
fish that came to Peter's hook contained the precise sum that 
had been indicated. It was also not merely our Lord's fore- 
knowledge of the fact — though He did foreknow it — but ii was 
the purpose of his will — of that will to which all creation was 
obedient, that impelled the fish containing this coin, and that 
one only out of the myriads in the lake, to the hook of Peter. 
"When this matter of the tribute-money had been disposed 
of, our Lord inquired of the apostles what it was that they had 
been so earnestly discussing upon the road. He needed not 
this information, but wished to appeal to their own conscious- 
ness, which was so effectually awakened by the question, that 
they held down their heads and returned no answer. They 
had in fact been contending which of them was the greatest in 
claims and services, and might therefore expect the highest 
place, and most important offices, in the splendid kingdom they 
still persisted in supposing their Master was about to establish. 
Perceiving by their silence that the object of his question had 
been answered, our Lord did not directly reprove them further, 
but in a few words, rendered doubly impressive by a vivid il- 
lustration, He set before them the worthlessness of their con- 
tention, and its utter antagonism to that spirit which must rule 
in the kingdom of God. Taking a little child, He placed him 
in the midst, and told them to make this child, in its unassum- 
ing ingenuousness, their model ; he among them who was most 
childlike and unassuming, who thought least of himself and 
his worth — he would be of most importance in the kingdom of. 
God. He then tenderly embraced the child, and said : " Who- 
soever shall receive one such little child in my name, receiveth 
Me; and whosoever receiveth Me, receiveth Him that sent 
Me." By this He struck at the root of the contention amOg 
the disciples, teaching them that it is not merely what a man 
does that constitutes the worthiness of his deeds, but the spirit 
in which he does them. The act may be great or small ; its 



336 THIRTY-SEVENTH WEEK FRIDAY. 

worth depends upon its being done in the name of Christ, and 
for Lis sake. 

The apostles do not seem to have entered into the depth of 
our Lord's meaning; for John proceeded to mention an in- 
ctance that seemed to him inconsistent with the rule thus laid 
down. It appears that the miracles of Christ, and those 
wrought by the apostles during their recent tour, by calling 
upon his name, had induced others who were not within the 
immediate circle of the disciples, to call upon the name of Jesus 
for the healing of demoniacs. This came under the notice of 
the apostles in at least one instance ; and, displeased that any 
one out of their circle, and without authority from their Lord, 
should try in this way to make himself equal with them, tbey 
forbade the act. Although some taint of selfish motives may 
have intruded, the apostles felt so sure of having done right, 
that they distrusted a rule which would seem to make it wrong. 
For if the smallest action done in the name of Christ were so 
valuable, they must have erred in forbidding this. Jesus 
accepted this conclusion, and told them they had indeed erred 
in this interdiction. If a man in sincerity believed that, by 
thus using the name of Christ, works so great could be accom- 
plished, this would show that he had good thoughts of Christ, 
and had at least those beginnings of faith which might lead to 
better things. And if he had actually wrought a miracle by 
this means, that was in itself a sign that he had spoken in faith, 
and that God had accepted and responded to his faith ; and 
therefore he ought not to be forbidden to act, because he was 
not within the inner circle of Christ's disciples. 

Soon after this a question of Peter afforded our Lord an 
opportunity of laying down the law of Christian forgiveness, 
in the beautiful parable of the Unmerciful Servant. 

It was shortly after this that our Lord chose out from the 
larger body of his disciples, the number of seventy, that they 
might go on a missionary tour, in pairs, to the towns and 
villages He intended himself afterwards to visit. Why He 
chose this precise number is not known. Perhaps there was 
no special reason ; but some have thought that there may have 



THE FEAST OF TABERNACLES. 33 *7 

been a general reference to the seventy elders, or to the seventy 
members of the Sanhedrim; or to the notion common amono- 
the Jews that there were seventy languages and nations upon 
the earth. The instructions given to them were very similar to 
those formerly impressed upon the twelve ; but since the oppo- 
sition of the Pharisees had greatly increased in violence, the 
conduct they were to observe under persecution was carefully 
pointed out, aud the sustainments they were entitled to expect 
were fully declared, while strong denunciations were uttered 
against those places which should refuse to receive their tes- 
timony. • 



THIRTY-SEVENTH WEEK— SATURDAY. 

THE FEAST OF TABERNACLES. JOHN VII. 2 VIII. 11. 

Autumn had now arrived, and our Lord having been pre- 
vented from attending the last Passover, resolved to go to 
Jerusalem at the feast of tabernacles. At first He did not show 
this intention, and therefore his relatives remonstrated with 
Him and urged Him to it. They told Him that his manifest 
evasion of publicity scarcely consisted with his object of being 
publicly known ; and they reminded Him that he owed some- 
thing to those who had attached themselves to him in Judea, 
and who, by reason of his protracted absence in Galilee, had 
witnessed few if any of his might}'' works. It is evident that 
these near relatives of our Lord, who had always his human 
circumstances in view, found it difficult to believe in Him with 
entire fixedness. The miracles they had seen him perform 
inclined them to belief, but they were ever anxious to receive 
yet more signal proofs of his Messianic dignity. They now 
wished to see Him in the great theatre of the metropolis, and 
probably continued to expect some decisive moment, when He 
would reveal himself with power as the Messiah. In reply to 
their representation, He gave them to understand that what 
He did took place according to the plan of Divine wisdom, and 
vol. in. 15 



338 THIRTY-SEVENTH WEEK — SATURDAY. 

that the period of time which that wisdom had appointed had 
not yet arrived. But there were no such considerations to 
regulate their movements. They could go when they liked. 

It is clear that Jesus did not consider the present moment, 
when so many of the people were moving towards Jerusalem, 
the most suitable for One who desired not to attract attention 
without necessity, or to draw hatred upon himself. Such hatred 
the relatives could not incur, for their relation to the world was 
not like his — that of light to darkness. They therefore de- 
parted, not clearly understanding whether he meant to follow 
or not. There is every probability that if our Lord had gone 
with the advancing crowds, He would on many grounds have 
formed a centre of attraction to those going from Galilee, who 
would have attended him to Jerusalem in immense num- 
bers, which would have given a dangerous aspect to his ap- 
proach, even if the people did not, as it was likely that they 
would, seeing how easily a large crowd can be led to act upon 
an impulse of enthusiasm, hail Him as their king and leader, 
and in that quality present him before Jerusalem. This was 
by no means what Jesus sought, it was indeed what He most 
earnestly shunned. This course would also have been impru- 
dent at that time, even had his objects, to suppose for a moment 
a thing so impossible, been those of personal ambition ; for the 
southern Jews, having seen and heard so much less of Him than 
those of the north, were by no means so well prepared as the lat- 
ter to recognise Him as even a temporal Messiah, while all were 
equally indisposed to acknowledge Him in his true character. 
It is likely that the Jews in Judea would not have been over- 
ready to concur in a movement originating with the pilgrims 
from Galilee, and the nature of which they could not under- 
stand, especially when it is considered that the Galileans were 
rather looked down upon by their southern brethren. 

We have already intimated, however, that the attendance 
from Galilee at this feast was much less than that at the Pass- 
over, while that of the southern Jews was very considerable. 
There was, therefore, a larger proportion of those who had not 
yet received the advantage of our Lord's instruction and mira- 



THE FEAST OF TABERNACLES. S3J 

cles, and a less proportion of those whose movements were 
likely to compromise his real objects. These considerations 
may have had some influence in drawing our Saviour at this 
festival to Jerusalem, though He had avoided going there 
seven months before at the Passover. 

Meanwhile there was much conversation and debate con 
cerning Him at Jerusalem. He was generally expected there, 
probably because, as He had not attended either of the pre- 
vious feasts of that year, it was concluded that He would not 
neglect the only one that remained. Even the members of the 
Sanhedrim w r ere on the watch for him. They sought Him, 
saying, " Where is He ?" They, perhaps from hatred, forbore 
to name Him, while yet their abstinence from any of those 
abusive epithets, in the use of which they were ready and 
expert, has been by some thought to indicate a softening of 
their anger towards Him. This is scarcely conveyed in the 
further fact, that "no man spake openly of Him," that is, com- 
mitted himself to a decided opinion about Him, " for fear of 
the Jews." But among themselves the people were greatly 
divided. Some affirmed that he was an upright man, the 
honesty of whose intentions was beyond suspicion, while others 
maintained, on the contrary, that He was one who deceived the 
people. 

At length Jesus made his appearance ; but it was not until 
the fourth day of the feast (which lasted eight days) that He 
went up to the temple — whether from late arrival, or from de- 
siring that the first excitement should subside. He then spoke 
with such force and boldness, that those of the people who 
were aware of the evil intentions of the rulers against Him, 
were astonished to find that He was left unmolested. But 
although the Pharisees did not wish to apprehend Him at 
present, they gave directions that any fit opportunity that pre- 
sented itself should be taken advantage of; and when at length 
they heard that many of the people were becoming seriously 
inclined to accept Him as the Christ, they could no longer 
act with prudent restraint, but sent officers to apprehend Him 
at once, and bring Him before them, sitting there in council to 



840 THIRTY-SEVENTH WEEK SATURDAY. 

receive Him. They had to sit longer than they expected, for 
the messengers finding Jesus speaking had waited a little to 
hear Him, and were then so strongly impressed by what He 
said, and dismayed by the aspect of the people, that they were 
afraid to lay hands upon Him. Returning without any 
prisoner, the officers excused themselves by declaring that, 
" Never man spake like this man !" This did not tend to allay 
the resentment of the rulers, which they expressed very 
strongly. Nicodemus, who, it will be remembered, belonged 
to this council, ventured to remark that the law did not author- 
ize the condemnation of any man before his conduct had been 
examined, and he had been heard in his own defence. They 
answered with the contemptuous taunt, "Art thou also a 
Galilean ? Search and look, for out of Galilee ariseth no pro- 
phet." They thus endeavored to cover all leaning to the cause 
of Jesus with obloquy, by taking it for granted it could not 
exist but among Galileans. For the rest, they were right in 
concluding that the Messiah was not to come (originally) from 
Galilee, and they knew not, though they might have known 
by proper inquiry, that Jesus came from Bethlehem. They 
were wrong, however, in saying that no prophet could come 
out of Galilee ; for Galilee had already produced several pro- 
phets, Jonah, Elijah, and perhaps Nahum ; but a blind fury 
against Jesus closed their eyes for the moment to these ex- 
amples. 

By the next day, when Jesus again appeared in. the temple, 
a trap had been laid for Him. A woman, taken in adultery, 
had been found, and they brought her to Him for judgment, 
saying " Master, Moses in the law commanded that such should 
be stoned — but what say est Thou?' 1 '' Some of them had pos- 
sibly heard, and others had probably heard of, the Sermon on 
the Mount, in which He had seemed to place his own authority 
above that of Moses ; and the dilemma in which they strove 
to place Him, was this — the law certainly denounced death 
against a convicted adulteress, but this law had fallen into dis- 
use, and owing to the corrupt morals of the times, the crime 
seldom incurred any other penalty than divorce. If, there- 



THE FEAST OF TABERNACLES. 341 

fore, Jesus declared for the punishment of death, He would 
lose ground in public opinion for insisting, contrary to the cus- 
toms of the time, and to his own previous declarations, upon a 
rigid adherence to the letter of the law; but if He declared on 
the other side, they could denounce Him as one who despised 
the law of Moses, and sought to overturn it. 

While they made their accusation, and claimed his decision, 
Jesus being seated on the ground, seemed to be musingly and 
inattentively engaged in tracing characters in the dust, as one 
is apt to do in a careless or absent mood. He gave no sign 
of attention ; but when they had done, He looked up, and 
said quietly, " He that is without sin among you, let him first 
cast a stone at her." This alludes to the custom of the wit- 
nesses, on whose evidence a criminal has been convicted, cast- 
ing the first stone in punishment. He then again bent his 
attention downward, and resumed his musing occupation. 
Meanwhile all those who were present to confound Him, stole 
silently away — " being convicted by their own consciences" of 
sin ; not perhaps all of the particular sin, although that was 
frightfully common in this age, and many of the most exalted 
persons, and v most eminent teachers, were guilty of it. But 
they were convinced of sin generally. Every one felt that 
Jesus knew of him, that he had sinned, so that he could not 
dare to lift up his head, if any one demanded the same seventy 
of judgment against him, that he asked against this guilty 
woman. Thus it happened that, when our Lord looked up 
again, the woman stood alone before Him, veiled in tears of 
shame and grief. He asked her what had become of her 
accusers, and if she already had been condemned ; and hear- 
ing that she had not, He said, " Neither do I condemn thee," 
declining to assume the functions of a judicial officer, which 
did not belong to Him. He then dismissed her, without pro- 
nouncing judgment upon her past sins. He did not wish to 
say directly that she was pardoned. But the whole conduct 
of Jesus, so serious and solemn, and yet so mild, could not 
have failed, in the meantime, to make a deep impression upon 
one who, during the whole of the preceding scene, must have 



342 THIRTY-EIGHTH WEEK — SUNDAY. 

stood in the presence of death. This impression must have 
been deepened by the serious admonition which He gave her, 
— " Go, and sin no more I" 



THE MAN BORN BLIND. JOHN VIII. 12 IX. 41. 

After this signal discomfiture of his enemies, our Lord ap- 
pears to have been allowed to pursue his course undisturbed 
for a time, until one memorable occasion, when a direct at- 
tempt was made upon his life. 

There was a place in the temple corridors, called " the 
treasury," because a large chest, with a hole in the lid, was 
deposited there to receive the voluntary offerings of the people. 
This seems to have been a favorite place with Jesns, as we 
more than once read of his teaching there. He was here on 
the occasion to which we refer. His language in speaking be- 
came more bold and authoritative than ever, while it also ap- 
peared mysterious to those whose eyes were blinded by so 
many preconceived notions and egotisms. He distinctly de- 
clared himself the Messiah, and said that his claim had been 
already well authenticated ; and He told them that all who 
believed not in Him, and refused Him as their Redeemer, 
must die in their sins. The first part of his address was, with 
some carping interruptions from the Pharisees, well received 
by the auditors, many of whom believed in Him. But pro- 
ceeding, he began to say that the truth would make them 
free ; and they took up these words warmly, declaring that 
they were Abraham's seed, and never yet in bondage to any 
— a monstrous fiction, dear to the national vanity, but which 
might have been sufficiently disproved by the helmets of the 
Roman soldiers in the adjoining tower of Antonia. He then 
pointed out how little their conduct substantiated their claim 
to be regarded as the true children of Abraham. They showed 
themselves rather the children of the father of lies than of the 



THE MAN BORN BLIND. 343 

father of the faithful, since they sought the life of One who of- 
fered them the truth ; and their state of mind and heart was 
the reverse of his, seeing they wished to destroy Him, in whom 
Abraham had rejoiced. He meant, as formerly explained,* 
that Abraham had been permitted to realize a distinct concep- 
tion of the Saviour and his work, and had rejoiced in the pros- 
pects which it opened. In short, that Abraham was one of 
those who, in old times, " all died in faith, not having received 
[the fulfiment ofj the promises, but were persuaded of them, 
and embraced them." 

If they had seen fit to listen with attention, and to bestow 
some thought on what they heard, the Jews must have per- 
ceived that He spoke of deep matters ; but they, in their care- 
less ignorance or sinful perversity, chose to understand Him 
as speaking of some earthly intercourse with Abraham, and 
they cried out with affected astonishment, " Thou art not yet 
fifty years old, and hast Thou seen Abraham ?" Jesus did 
not think it needful to correct their misconception, but accept- 
ing their question as it stood, answered it in the grand words : 
" Before Abraham was, I am." The present tense is used, 
though the past is meant. This is proper only to God, with 
whom, as of himself, there is no past nor future, and to whom 
all time is now. Hence in the Old Testament, He takes the 
names of I am, and I am that i am ; and the term used by 
our Lord, coupled with the involved assertion, that He had 
lived before Abraham, could not but suggest that He claimed 
to be God — the Son of God, in a higher sense than those, 
whose minds were filled with carnal notions of the Messiah, 
w r ere prepared to allow. That they so understood the claim, 
is clear from their treatment of it. They treated it as blas- 
phemy, and snatching up the stones that lay about from the 
repairs of the temple, which were still in progress, they were 
about to hurl them at Him. But He disappeared from among 
them, whether by mingling with the crowd, or by rendering 
himself miraculously invisible for the moment, is open to ques- 
tion. 

* Morning Series : Ninth Week — Tuesday. 



344 THIRTY-EIGHTH WEEK SUNDAY. 

We have heard nothing as yet of the Sabbath question 
which made so great a stir at our Lord's previous visit to 
Jerusalem, unless from an allusion to it in one of his discourses, 
as furnishing ground for the persecution to which He was sub 
jected. But soon this question was to be revived with re 
newed intensity of bitterness. 

As Jesus was passing along with his disciples, his attention 
was called to a man sitting as a beggar by the wayside, who 
was well known to have been blind from his birth. Respect- 
ing him, some one of the disciples asked his Lord the curious 
question, for whose sins the man was thus visited, — for his 
own, or for those of his parents. We have explained more 
than once, that the Jews believed signal bodily calamities to 
be the punishment of individual sin. But a man born blind 
manifestly could not be under punishment for his own sins in 
this present life. Hence arose the question — was he punished 
for the sins of his parents, or for the sins committed by himself 
in an anterior existence ? — for it has been shown that many 
Jews in this age believed in the transmigration of souls, and 
consequently that the sins of a former life might be punished 
in this. Jesus in his reply set aside this connection between 
special calamities and special guilt, and declared that the man 
had been thus afflicted, that his privations might subserve the 
higher objects of God's love to himself and to others through 
him. He then anointed the man's eyes with clay, tempered 
with saliva, and directed him to go and wash them in the 
somewhat distant pool of Siloam. The purpose of this seems 
twofold, partly to try the man's faith, as we have more than 
once explained, and partly to display the miracle ; for it is 
clear that our Lord, being now away from Galilee, was no 
longer desirous of keeping his mighty deeds private. This 
well-known man, moving along with his clay-daubed eyes, 
could not fail to attract attention, and he was probably at- 
tended by a crowd by the time he reached the pool. He 
washed his eyes, and it seemed as if his blindness fell off with 
the clay— the sight came to his eyes ; and he returned into 
the city, seeing perfectly well. 



THE MAN BORN BLIND. 345 

This happened upon the Sabbath-day ; and the man was 
questioned .by the neighbors, who had so often seen him as a 
blind beggar, that they almost doubted his identity with the 
person they now saw. But he affirmed it ; and at their request, 
told them how he had been cured " by a man named Jesus." 
Some of the spies, whom the Sanhedrim had set to watch the 
proceedings of Jesus, seem to have heard this explanation, and 
thinking it might avail their employers, took the man to them. 
He was closely pressed with questions, from which it may be 
seen that the Pharisees regarded the making of the clay on 
the Sabbath as worthy of notice, in addition to the healing ; 
in fact they regarded such things as a species of work, equiva- 
lent to mixing mortar, or moulding clay for bricks, and therefore 
in itself an infraction of the Sabbath. The Sanhedrim strove 
to make the man denounce and disown his healer ; but they 
found him of a resolutely honest temper, and that he stood up 
valiantly for the person who had wrought so great a benefit 
for him, and could not be made to see that He had committed 
a great sin, and must needs be a scandalous sinner. Finding 
him so intractable, they affected to disbelieve that he had been 
cured, or that he had been born blind, and sent for his parents to 
question them. They were timid old people, and having heard 
that the Sanhedrim had already decreed that any who acknowl- 
edged Jesus, should be excommunicated, they evaded the re- 
sponsibility. The man was, they said, their son, and certainly 
he was born blind, but as for the cure, they knew nothing of 
it — their son was old enough to furnish all requisite informa- 
tion himself. So the questioners tried the man again, but found 
his reasoning so cogent, and his resolution so firm, that they 
became violent and abusive ; and when he said boldly, " If 
this man were not of God, He could do nothing," they an- 
swered, " Thou wast altogether born in sins, and dost thou 
teach us ?" What a world of emphatically Pharisaic arrogance 
there is in this — thou and us. The end was that they did 
" cast him out" — that is, excommunicated him — which, was a 
most serious penalty among the Jews. So Jesus found one 
more who was worthy to suffer shame for his name. 

15* 



346 THIRTY-EIGHTH WEEK MONDAY. 

The proceedings of the council came to the ears of Jesus, 
who after that looked for the man, to comfort and re-assure him. 
When He had found him, He said, " Dost thou believe in the 
Son of God ?" The man asked who it was that claimed this 
high title, and when Jesus replied : " Thou hast both seen 
Him, and He it is who talketh with thee ;" he, recognising his 
Benefactor, for whom he had already witnessed a good con- 
fession, hesitated not a moment, but said, " Lord, I believe." 
Now then he is healed indeed — body and soul both are healed. 

This man, in the course of his argument, had urged that 
" Since the world began was it not heard that any man opened 
the eyes of one that was born blind." No instance of this is 
recorded in the Old Testament, whether by miracle or by 
natural means ; nor does any example of the cure of congenital 
blindness by natural means, occur in the Greek and Roman 
writers, who, indeed, as well as those of more modern date, 
pronounce such blindness incurable. Since the beginning of 
the last century, a common form of blindness has been ren- 
dered curable by a surgical operation, called couching, first per- 
formed in England by Mr. Cheselden in 1728; and by this 
means, persons who became blind too early in life to remember 
the use and objects of sight, have been healed ; but there is 
still no instance on record of a person absolutely born blind, 
obtaining the use of sight. 



THIRTY-EIGHTH WEEK— MONDAY. 

SOJOURN IN JUDEA LUKE X. 25 — XI. 13 ; JOHN X. 1-42. 

Jesus still remained in Judea, having probably appointed 
the Seventy to join Him there before his return to Galilee, and 
intending to be present at the feast of the Dedication in Decern' 
ber, which was now too near to make it worth while to return 
to Galilee in the meantime. To this interval belong some very 
important discourses and impressive parables — such as that of 



SOJOURN IN JUDEA. 3<±7 

the Good Shepherd, in which He gave another plain intima- 
tion that He was about to lay down his life for the sheep — and 
that not by any constraint, but of his own free will ; the para- 
ble of the Good Samaritan, in which He taught " a certain 
lawyer," who " stood up and tempted Him," that the command 
to love our neighbor as ourself, was restricted to no narrow 
bounds or sect or condition, but applied to every one who 
stands within the reach of our knowledge and assistance. On 
another occasion, his disciples requested Him to teach them to 
pray, " as John also taught his disciples." How John taught 
his disciples, we know not ; but we happily know how the dis- 
ciples of Jesus were taught by Him. In what is called the 
Lord's Prayer, He gave them a model of prayer — short, yet 
comprehensive ; simple, yet cogent ; and followed it by an im- 
pressive discourse and parable, in illustration of the advantages 
and prevailing power of earnest and perseveringly importunate 
prayer. This He further illustrated on another occasion by the 
striking parable of the Importunate Widow — which has strength- 
ened the hearts of untold numbers under the discouragement 
of seemingly unanswered prayer. The parables of the Grain 
of Mustard-seed and of the Leaven — both illustrative of the 
growth and spread of his kingdom — belong also to this interval. 

The incidents are few — a miracle and a reproof. 

The miracle was performed upon a poor woman, who had 
been a sufferer eighteen years, and was so bent together as to 
be unable to lift herself up. When Jesus saw her in the syna- 
gogue, and knew how long she had been in that sad plight, he 
instantly healed her. This was on the Sabbath-day. From 
the frequency with which miracles on that day are recorded, 
one might think that this day was chosen by our Lord id 
preference to any other. But we are to remember that our 
Lord wrought hundreds of miracles, the particulars of which 
are not recorded ; and these are recorded on account of the dis- 
cussions to which they gave rise, or of some peculiar circum- 
stances connected with them. Miracles on the Sabbath often 
excited discussion, drew forth declarations from our Lord, 01 
had influence upon events — for the sake of which the miracles 



848 TI11UT5T-EIGHTH WEEK MONDAY. 

are related. It is also to be remarked, tbat many afflicted peo- 
ple were present on the Sabbath in the synagogues, who, not 
being street beggars, were not to be seen in public on other 
days, and who, if not healed there, would not be healed at all. 
In the present case, the ruler of the synagogue was very angry. 
His words were addressed to the people, however, telling them 
there were six days for work : " in them, therefore, come and 
be healed, but not on the Sabbath-day." In this we trace, 
besides the general Jewish opinion bearing on the subject, the 
special one, that if a disease were of long standing, or not of a 
nature to be seriously affected by delay, no means of cure ought 
to be taken or sought for on the Sabbath. 

Although the observation was not directly addressed to 
Jesus, He answered it — and that with a warmth of indignation 
not usual with Him in addressing an individual. There was 
evidently that in the ruler's tone and manner, in speaking to 
the poor woman, which moved our Lord strongly. " Thou 
hypocrite," He said, "doth not each one of you on the Sabbath 
loose his ox or his ass from the stall, and lead him away to 
watering ? and ought not this woman, being a daughter of 
Abraham, whom Satan hath bound, lo, these eighteen years, to 
be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath-day." There was no 
answer to this. The adversaries of Jesus were confounded, and 
" the people rejoiced for all the glorious things that were done 
by Him." 

In regard to the practice to which our Lord referred, as 
sanctioned by their own interpretation of the law, it was held 
that a beast might be led forth to watering on the Sabbath-day, 
provided that it bore no other burden than its collar and halter. 
It was lawful to draw water for it, and pour it out into the trough ; 
but unlawful to carry water to the beast, which must, there- 
fore, be led forth to the well, pool, or stream, and watered there. 

The reproof was to Martha, the sister of Mary and Lazarus 
of Bethany — a place which still subsists as a poor village of 
about twenty families, on the south-eastern declivity of the 
Mount of Olives, in a little valley, and about ten miles from 
Jerusalem. It seems to nave been a general custom of our 



SOJOURN IN JUDEA. 349 

Lord when at Jerusalem to leave the city at night, and pass 
over to the Mount of Olives, where He sometimes remained all 
night. But the nights being generally cold, both in spring (at 
the Passover) and in autumn (at the Feast of Tabernacles), He 
generally went down to Bethany, spending the night in the 
house of his friend and disciple Lazarus, and returning to Jeru- 
salem in the morning. This at least was his later custom 
The sisters, as well as the brother, were disciples of Jesus, and 
all devotedly attached to Him. One day these good people 
gave our Lord a special entertainment, probably in view of his 
approaching departure, at which the hearty, bustling Martha 
was exceedingly busy about the preparations for dinner — 
thinking in her housewifely, homely way, that she could not 
manifest her regard for Jesus in any mode so proper as in see- 
ing that He was nobly entertained. The more spiritual and 
thoughtful sister gladly left all this to her, and rejoiced to seat 
herself at the feet of Jesus, to gather up into her heart the 
precious words that fell from Him. Martha at length took 
notice that Mary was thus sitting idle, as it seemed to her, 
while she was oppressed by so many cares and duties ; and 
she begged Jesus to tell her sister to come and help her. Mary 
must have been somewhat hurt at this ; but she knew her sis- 
ter's blunt way too well to be much surprised ; besides, it is much 
the fashion of the East to speak and act xeiy directly, in mat- 
ters that seem to us to require nice management and delicate 
contrivance. But Mary also knew the heart of her Master, 
and felt safe from his blame. His answer was kind to Mary, 
and not unkind to Martha. He said, " Martha, Martha ! thou 
art careful and troubled about many things, but one thing is 
needful ; and she hath chosen that good part which shall not 
be taken away from her." Now we know that Jesus loved 
Martha (John xi. 5), and that He did so, shows that she was 
worthy of his regard. This could not have been the case, had 
not she, as well as Mary, chosen " the better part." It is, 
therefore, harsh to construe our Lord's answer to mean, that 
Mary had, and that she had not, chosen that part. It must, 
therefore, mean, we think, that Martha was careful and troubled 



350 THIRTY-EIGHTH WEEK MONDAY 

about many things. Among these there was only one essen- 
tial — the better part, which could not be taken away. In that 
part, Mary shared her interest ; and in her keen solicitude about 
it, and her eagerness for spiritual food, might well be excused 
on this occasion for her neglect of the lesser matters which the 
anxious hospitality of Martha deemed so important. Thus 
tenderly and courteously does our Lord vindicate Mary, with- 
out affronting her kind and well-meaning sister. 

The return of the Seventy, who seem to have made the same 
kind of excursion through the south of the country that the 
apostles had made through the north, refreshed and strength- 
ened our Lord, by the generally favorable account of their pro- 
ceedings which they brought. They perhaps dwelt a little too 
forcibly on the fact, that the devils were subject unto them 
through his name ; so that He gently reminded them to rejoice 
far more that their names were written in heaven. 

The Feast of Dedication at which Jesus was present with his 
disciples, was one of human institution, having been founded — 
not, as some might suppose, to celebrate the dedication of Sol 
mon's temple — but to commemorate its renewed consecratioi 
after it had been desecrated by Antiochus Epiphanes. It was 
celebrated every year for eight days, commencing with the 
25th Chisleu, or the loth of December. We have an account 
of only one discourse which He delivered at this festival, in 
" Solomon's porch." This porch or colonnade was in the court of 
the Gentiles, and was supposed to have been the only part of Solo- 
mon's temple that had been left standing when Jerusalem was 
destroyed by the Babylonians. John specifies that " it wat 
winter," probably to intimate that Jesus taught in this colon- 
nade, in order that those who heard Him might be sheltered 
from the inclemency of the weather. While He was walking 
in this porch, his enemies hoping to gain some advantage ovei 
Him, affected a willingness to recognise his claims as the Mes- 
siah, if He would but avow them distinctly and openly. He 
replied that He had already told them with sufficient plainness 
for any who were willing to understand. His deeds also afford- 
ed every requisite evidence, for they were precisely such works 



SOJOURN IN JDDEA. 352 

as the prophets ascribed to the Messiah. His sheep, his own, 
those whom his Father had given to Him, understood these 
things and believed ; and the reason they also did not believe 
was because they were not his sheep. They would therefore 
die in their sins : but to those who believed in Him, He gave 
eternal life. They should never perish, neither could any one 
pluck them out of his hand. The Father who gave them to 
Him was greater than all, and none could pluck them out of 
his Father's hands. He here certainly claims essential oneness 
with the Father. The sheep are in his possession, and yet in 
the Father's ; no one can pluck them from his hand — nor from 
the Father's ; and besides, it is He who gives eternal life, — and 
who less than one. Divine can do that ? It scarcely needed 
that He should add, " I and my Father are one," to place his 
meaning beyond question. That the Jews understood Him in 
this sense is clear, for they forthwith took up stones to inflict 
summary punishment upon Him as a blasphemer. Indeed 
when He arrested their hands by a question, they avowed that 
they sought to stone Him " for blasphemy ; aud because that 
Thou, being a man, makest thyself God." Our Lord did not 
at all disclaim this imputation, — which if He had been merely 
a man, merely a holy prophet, He would have been eager to 
do. He showed that his claiming to be the Son of God, did 
not lay Him open to the charge of blasphemy, even were He 
no more than they expected their Messiah to be ; but that He 
was more, and, therefore, still less open to such a charge, He 
again alleged to be proved by his works, which evinced that, 
as He said, " The Father is in Me, and I in Him." 

That the Jews did not at all regard Him as modifying his 
previous declaration, is plain from the result ; for though they 
no longer persisted in illegally stoning Him without trial, 
they thought they had evidence from his own mouth on which 
to ensure his conviction before the proper tribunal. They there- 
fore sought to apprehend Him for the purpose of bringing Him 
before the Sanhedrim, — but were frustrated by his sudden de- 
parture from Jerusalem, and, indeed, from Judea, into the re- 
gion beyond the Jordan. 



352 THIRTY-EIGHTH WEEK TUESDAY. 

THIRTY-EIGHTH WEEK— TUESDAY. 

LAZARUS RAISED FROM THE DEAD. JOHN XI. 

On getting beyond the Jordan, and out of the territory of 
Judea, Jesus stationed himself with his disciples at " the place 
where John at first baptized." The remembrance of John, and 
the influence of his teaching, was still strong in that quarter ; 
and those who repaired to Jesus and witnessed his teaching 
and miracles, naturally reverted to the connection with, and 
the difference between, Him and his harbinger. They said 
" John did no miracle ; but all things that John spake of this 
man were true." The result was that many believed on Him 
there. 

He seems not to have been here long, but how long we 
know not precisely, when a man arrived in hot haste with a 
message from the sisters at Bethany, "Lord, he whom Thou 
lovest is sick ;" this was Lazarus their brother, but they knew 
that He would need no other than this touching designation 
of him. Knowing what miracles of healing Jesus had wrought, 
their expectation doubtless was that He would hasten back to 
restore his friend ; but He only said, " This sickness is not unto 
death," and the messenger probably returned with that intima- 
tion. If so, he found Lazarus dead ; and by counting the days 
we shall see that he must have been already dead when Jesus 
made that declaration. 

Our Lord did not at all hasten to depart, but remained 
where He was two days, before he gave any intimation that 
He meant to go to Bethany. Various conjectural explanations 
of this delay have been offered. We need not state them here ; 
but we apprehend the case to have been this, that Jesus knew 
Lazarus was dead when the messenger came to tell Htm that 
he w r as sick. If he had been alive, He could have healed him 
by a word without going to Bethany for the purpose. As, 
therefore, He could not then prevent his dying, He saw reasons 
for suffering him to remain so long dead "for the glory of 
God," that the Son of God might be the more abundantly 



LAZARUS RAISED FROM THE DEAD. SI 3 

glorified by his final restoration to life. For in the ordinary 
course of nature it should seem less difficult to restore to life 
the recently dead, than those in whom the process of corruption 
have commenced. It may also have been part of bis desio-n 
to allow the grief of the sisters for the loss of their brother to 
reach its height, so that the relief He meant to bring might 
make the more abiding, and therefore more salutary, impress- 
ion upon them ; acting thus after the manner of his heavenly 
Father, who often affords the first relief in the moment of 
greatest sorrow and extremest need. After two days, during 
which the disciples had probably rested under the impression 
that Lazarus was dead, they were startled when their Master 
declared his intention of returning into Judea. They ventured 
to remonstrate that by so doing He threw himself into the very 
jaws of danger, seeing with what blind fury the Jews had lately 
sought his life. He then informed them of the reason for his 
going — that Lazarus was dead — adding, " I am glad for your 
sakes that I was not there, to the intent ye may believe." He 
was there not long ago, and He was glad that the sickness of 
Lazarus had not then occurred, for He could not then have 
declined the solicitations of the sisters to rescue the sufferer 
from approaching death. If, being there, or being at hand in 
order to prevent it, He had suffered him to die, and then raised 
him, the miracle would have borne that aspect of vulgar osten- 
tation, no trace of which has been found in the acts of Jesus, 
even by the greatest enemies of his name. In fact, it would 
have amounted to this — that He wilfully let Lazarus die, for 
the express purpose of raising him afterwards ! ISTot very 
different from this in fact, though different in spirit, is the 
explanation, which supposes that Jesus tarried beyond the 
Jordan, in order that he might not arrive in time to save his 
friend from the grave. 

As to the gladness of Jesus for their sakes, in addition to the 
motives already stated, there is another of great weight. Jesus 
knew very well that " his hour" was close at hand ; and as the 
decisive movement drew on, it became very important that He 
should perform some miraculous act, which should afford still 



354 THIRTY-EIGHTH WEEK TUESDAY. 

more unequivocal marks than his earlier ones of his Divine 
sovereignty and omnipotence, and thus leave behind Him a 
deep impression, to strengthen his friends, and either to con- 
vince or confound his enemies. So important is the event in 
this point of view, that sceptics have been constrained to ac- 
knowledge that a circumstance so remarkable and peculiar, if 
irrefragably established to their satisfaction (as it ought to be, 
and would be if their eyes were not blinded), would necessitate 
a belief in the entire evangelical record. Thus Spinoza is re- 
ported to have said to his friends, " that if it were possible for 
him to persuade himself of the resurrection of Lazarus, he 
would dash his whole system to pieces, and embrace the faith 
of ordinary Christians without reluctance."* O the pity, then, 
that he could not understand, or that, not understanding, he 
could not yet believe it ! Great had been his gain. 

It was with real concern that the disciples perceived their 
Lord to be firmly bent on proceeding to Bethany, near as that 
place was to Jerusalem. Thomas, in particular, regarded the 
journey as so perilous, that although his attachment would not 
suffer him to separate himself from his Lord, yet he could not 
accompany him with a joyful confidence in God. In the keen 
apprehension of the danger that awaited the Master and his 
disciples, he cried out in a kind of despair, " We then will also 
go, that we may die with Him." It is well to note the agree- 
ment of this with the subsequent indication of character which 
Thomas affords. 

On his arrival near Bethany, Jesus found that Lazarus had 
already been four days in the grave. As the Jews of this age 
buried their dead almost immediately after decease (see Acts 
v. 6-10), and, unless under very peculiar circumstances, would 
not keep a corpse in the house over night, this shows that, as 
we have said, Lazarus died the same day on which the mes- 
senger had been sent to Jesus, for the man must have taken 
that day for his journey to the inner bank of the Jordan ; 
Jesus remained two days after he received the intelligence ; 

* Bayle, as cited by Tholuck, whose commentary on this chapter is 
very valuable. 



LAZARUS RAISED FROM THE DEAD. 355 

and the journey to Bethany required the fourth day, that is, 
so much of that as had expired when he reached Bethany, 
which was probably towards evening. 

It was a custom among the Jews in cases of death for all 
acquaintances to visit the bereaved persons, and console them 
for seven days continuously ; and as Lazarus had been well 
known, and seems to have been a person in what is called good 
circumstances, many friends had come over from Jerusalem to 
condole with Martha and Mary. The sisters were sitting in 
the house in their sorrow, surrounded by such comforters, when 
the rumor came that Jesus had arrived. This was either whis- 
pered apart to Martha, to whom, as the elder, any message 
would naturally be given ; or Mary, in her more absorbed and 
meditative grief, had not heard this intimation. Martha rose 
immediately and hastened to meet Jesus, and when she beheld 
Him, she cried, " Lord, if Thou hadst been here, my brother 
had not died ;" and her faith being awakened into lively action 
when she saw Him actually appear, whose presence had been 
so ardently desired, she added, " I know that even now, what- 
soever Thou wilt ask of God, God will give it Thee." It may 
also appear from this, that the sisters had not misunderstood 
the intimation which the messenger brought back : they knew 
that Jesus could not be under a mistake ; and as their brother 
was already dead, what other meaning could it bear than that 
Lazarus was not to be finally given over to the power of death ? 
It was well known that Jesus had already raised the dead 
more than once, and this could not have escaped the recol- 
lection of those who had so thoroughly explored every ground 
of hope. 

Jesus answered her, as was at times his wont, somewhat 
vaguely, in order to lay open the state of her heart. He told 
her that her brother should rise again. This answer, meeting 
her hopes less definitely than she expected, she answered de- 
jectedly, that she knew very well that he would at one time 
rise from the dead. Our gracious Lord sympathized in her 
grief. He knew well her sorrow, and counted all her tears ; 
but He was not willing +Jiat even such grief should exercise im 



356 THIRTY-EIGHTH WEEK — TUESDAY. 

due dominion over her, and make her forgetful of that inward 
eternal, and Divine life, which was safe from destruction or de« 
cay. He reminded her that this life was in Him, and was im- 
parted to the faithful by union with Him. They whose eyes 
and whose hopes have that direction, cannot be unduly 
troubled at the loss of perishable possessions — not even at that 
which is perishable in the friends and brothers of their souls. 
Anxious to fix this impression upon her mind, Jesus asked her, 
" Believest thou this ?" In her heart the feeling of uncondi- 
tional surrender was now re-awakened, and shame at her mo- 
mentary misgiving, drew from her a full acknowledgment of 
Him as the Messiah. Elevated by the sacred feelings thus 
pressed into her heart, Martha at once hastened to summon her 
sister, to whom she whispered that the Master was come, and 
desired her presence. The communication was made privately, 
doubtless in order to avoid creating any movement among the 
Jews present, and of preventing any hostile designs. Indeed, 
to avoid exciting attention, Jesus had not yet entered the vil- 
lage ; and He probably also wished to remain near the place 
where the grave was, for in the East sepulchres were formerly 
as now always outside of towns. 

As it was then also, as now, customary, after the death of 
a relative or beloved friend, to visit the grave daily for a certain 
time, and there to give way to boundless grief; the Jews, 
seeing Mary go out in an agitated manner, concluded she had 
gone to weep at her brother's grave. But it was to Jesus she 
went ; and when she reached Him, she fell at his feet, and 
cried, " Lord, if Thou hadst been here, my brother had not 
died," — tears prevented her further utterance, and she dared 
not, like the more sanguine Martha, add the assurance of a joy- 
ful hope. The Saviour, who was clothed with human nature 
and all its affections, was deeply moved at the grief He wit- 
nessed. " He groaned in his spirit, and was troubled," and 
asked to be shown the place where one so beloved was buried. 
When He looked upon that place, He wept, and the tears He 
shed are very precious to us, for they assure us that He was 
indeed such as we are, although without sin. 



LAZARUS RAISED FROM THE DEAD. 357 

Among the Jews present, some were friendly to, or not pre- 
possessed against Jesus, others were hostile to Him, as appears 
by the fact that they hastened afterwards to report to the San- 
hedrim what had been done. The former, who had seldom 
seen the Redeemer under circumstances to call forth the ordi- 
nary movements of human emotion, rejoiced to witness his 
sympathy, and said to one another, "Behold how He loved 
him." But the others sarcastically asked among themselves, 
how it happened that He who could give sight to the blind, 
had not saved his friend from the grave. They thought He 
ought to have done so, and would have done so, if He had 
been able ; and his evasion or neglect of this duty, in so plain 
a case, threw discredit on his previous miracles, especially that 
of the man born blind — the last at Jerusalem. 

Meanwhile our Lord drew nearer to the tomb. It was, as 
usual with the wealthier classes, an excavation in the rock, the 
mouth being closed with a large stone. Jesus directed the re- 
moval of this stone. This was never done but on very extra- 
ordinary occasions ; never in the usual visits of friends to the 
sepulchre. Martha, who but now had allowed herself to 
cherish a vague hope, had again sunk into despondency, and 
saw. nothing in this, but a desire on the part of Jesus to look 
once more upon the face of his friend. She therefore opposed 
this proceeding, by the intimation that, as her brother had been 
dead four days, corruption must already have commenced its 
dishonoring work upon his frame. He who has studied the 
human heart — he who has studied his own heart, will not re- 
gard, as strange things, those rapid changes of feeling, and 
quick flows and ebbs of faith, in any one, much less in one so 
susceptible to instant impressions as Martha. But Jesus re- 
minded her that He had already in effect told her, that if she 
would believe, she should behold the glory of God. At these 
words, faith once more gushed up in her heart, like a spring of 
water, and the Redeemer was no longer obstructed by her un- 
belief. The stone was rolled away, and lifting up his eyes to 
heaven, Jesus poured forth to his Father, not a prayer for 
power to work this great deed, but a thanksgiving for it as ill- 



358 



THIRTY-EIGHTH WEEK TUESDAY. 



ready accomplished. And this was, He said, not on his own 
account, but for the sake of those who stood by : " That they 
may believe that Thou hast sent Me." He then cried with a 
loud voice, " Lazarus, come forth." And at that word, he 
lived ; and strove, as far as the cerements of the grave allowed, 
to come forth. It seems to us, that his corpse had been de- 
posited in one of the niches, made for the purpose, in the sides 
of the tomb, and that Lazarus, working himself out of the niche, 




slided down to the floor and stood upon his feet. But he could 
do no more, his limbs being closely bound by the swathings 




then used in Jewish burials, and his face being bound up in a 
napkin. On this, Jesus told them that stood by to " loose him 
and let him go," and then he stood forth, fresh and free among 
them, without any taint upon him of the chill horrors of the 
tomb.* 

* The painters think differently ; but we believe we are right. The 
spectators could not view any part of his person when he first came out 
of the tomb, nor until the bandages and the face-napkin had been re- 
moved, so that the moment in which life returned, was not witnessed by 
any, and in the interval, we cannot doubt that the dark hues of the 
"rave had passed fi'om him. 



TOUR IN PEREA. 359 

The evangelist has left a veil over the emotions of that meet- 
ing with a friend and a brother, who had been so greatly 
loved and deeply mourned ; and this veil we shall not attempt 
to raise. It is only stated, that many of the Jews who wit- 
nessed this great deed, believed in Him — that is, as the Mes- 
siah ; but others hurried off to Jerusalem, and gave to the 
Sanhedrim a perverted account of the transaction. Great con- 
sternation was felt in that assembly. No one could now deny 
that Jesus had wrought many miracles, and a fear was ex- 
pressed lest this crowning act of power, wrought so near Jeru- 
salem, and upon a person so well known as Lazarus, might 
excite the enthusiasm of the people in our Lord's favor, and 
lead to some movement which might attract the attention of 
the Romans, and occasion the loss of the few internal liberties 
which the nation had been permitted to retain. It was there- 
fore deliberately determined, by a decided vote of the Sanhe- 
drim, that Jesus should be put to death ; and from that day 
forward, there were continual counsels among them, how this 
might be brought about. But meanwhile He, whose hour 
was not yet fully come, though near, had disappeared from the 
neighborhood, and their plots were deferred to the approach- 
ing Passover. 



THIRTY-EIGHTH WEEK— WEDNESDAY. 

TOUR IN PEREA.— LUKE XIII. 22 XVIII. 30. 

The place to which our Lord retired was " a country near 
to the wilderness, unto a city called Ephraim." This place 
has, with probability, been identified by Dr. Robinson with 
the modern Taiyebeh, and with the ancient Ephron or Ophrah 
of Benjamin.* It is on a high hill, fifteen or twenty miles 
north of Jerusalem, and a short distance north of the rock 
Rimmon to which the remnant of the slaughtered Benjamites 
fled for defence,f and a little to the north-east of Bethel. It 

* Josh. xvii. 28 ; 1 Sam. xiii. 11 •, 2 Chron. xiii. 19. f Judges xx. 47. 



360 THIRTY-EIGHTH WEEK WEDNESDAY. 

occupies a lofty site ; and from it one overlooks tlte adjacent 
desert, the Jordan with its great valley, and the mountains of 
Perea beyond. At this place our Lord made some stay. 
There were about two months to the Passover — a considerable 
portion of which interval seems to have been spent here, with 
excursions probably to the neighboring towns and villages. 
Then, when the time that remained was only sufficient for a 
leisurely missionary journey through Perea, He passed to the 
other side of the Jordan, and proceeding southward, with many 
stoppages, recrossed the Jordan near Jericho, and proceeded 
by way of the city to Jerusalem. The history of this interval 
and journey is not given by the other evangelists, or only 
slightly alluded to ; but is somewhat fully recorded by St. 
Luke, forming a large proportion of the matter peculiar to 
that evangelist.* This visit to Perea was natural ; for, as 
Jesus was already there, when called away by the death of 
Lazarus, it is to be expected that he would return thither to 
complete his interrupted mission. At this day the hardy and 
industrious mountaineers of the district to which He first 
withdrew, have much intercourse with the valley of the Jordan, 
and till the rich fields and reap the harvests of Jericho. It 
was therefore quite natural and easy for our Lord, from this 
point, to cross the valley and the Jordan, and then turn his 
course towards Jericho and Jerusalem ; while, at the same 
time, He exercised his ministry among the cities and villages 
along the valley, and in the eastern region. 

Our Lord was attended by large crowds in his progress 
through Perea ; and we have now to indicate the discourses 
and parables by which He instructed them, the incidents of 
the journey, and the miracles he wrought. 

He exhorted the people to " enter in at the strait gate," — 
for the time would come when it would be too late ; when they 
might strive to enter in, and would not be able. 

Herod Antipas was, as we have seen, ruler of Perea as well 
as of Galilee. The proceedings of Jesus in Galilee had already 
attracted his attention, and he regarded with uneasiness his 
* Namely, from Luke xiii. 22, to xviii. 30. 



TOUR IN PEREA. 361 

present movements in Perea. Yet our Lord's great popularity 
with the people, and the crowds by whom He was usually at- 
tended, made the king unwilling to commit any violence upon 
Him ; and he would much rather that the responsibility of hos- 
tile proceedings against Him should devolve upon the Sanhedrim 
at Jerusalem. He, therefore, went indirectly to work in order 
to drive him out of his territories. He thus got some of the 
Pharisees to go to Jesus, and with an appearance of friendly 
interest in his safety, apprise Him that Herod had designs 
upon his life, and urge Him to quit the country. The charac- 
teristic and fox-like cunning of this contrivance to frighten Him 
away, was instantly apparent to our Saviour, who replied, " Go 
ye, and tell that fox" that He was engaged in his proper work, 
and must remain until it was finished ; yet He should soon 
depart, though not for fear of Herod or his threats, but because 
his work there would be done, and he must proceed to Jerusa- 
lem, " for it cannot be that a prophet perish out of Jerusalem." 
He knew the charge against Him was, and must be, blasphemy, 
of which crime only the great council at Jerusalem could take 
cognizance. It was also a fact, that the prophets who had 
been put to death, had chiefly perished at Jerusalem. This 
was followed by that touching lamentation over Jerusalem, 
which he repeated afterwards under circumstances which made 
it no less emphatically applicable : " Jerusalem, Jerusalem, 
which killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto 
thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, 
as a hen doth gather her brood under her wings — and ye would 
not!" t 

One Sabbath-day our Lord, being, as He was, upon a jour- 
ney, accepted an invitation to dine at the place where He rested 
on that day. The inviter was a Pharisee ; and whatever was 
his object — or whether he had any beyond that hospitality 
which it was usual to show to a stranger — the other guests, 
who were chiefly Pharisees and lawyers, were prepared to no- 
tice what Jesus said or did with close and invidious attention. 

There was a man present who had the dropsy ; and Jesus 
took the unusual course of asking them whether it was lawful 

vol. in. 16 



362 THIRTY-EIGHTH WEEK WEDNESDAY, 

to heal on the Sabbath-day. They made no answer, probably 
because they had heard of his unanswerable replies to former 
objectors, and partly because they knew that . the intention to 
prosecute him had been abandoned, that proceedings might be 
laken against Him in the still more serious charge of blasphemy. 
He then healed the man ; and as they had made no objection 
before, they could not with any decency censure this act after 
it had been performed. This is the only instance of healing on 
the Sabbath-day that passed without express animadversion. 
Jesus had taken notice what solicitude the guests had mani- 
fested to secure the chief or most honorable places at the din- 
ner table. The nature of this table has been lately explained — 
a couch enclosing three sides of a square, which contained the 
table. The place of honor was beside the host, on the middle 
conch, which lay along the upper end of the table. Of this 
post of honor it is on record that the rabbis of that age were 
remarkably ambitious, claiming it as a tribute due to their su- 
perior wisdom. Our Lord, who did not deem the common 
courtesies of social life unworthy his attention, took occasion 
to remark on the essential unfitness of this, and to rebuke the 
forward arrogancy for which Pharisees are notorious. He 
pointed out the humiliation to which such conduct might be 
exposed ; as in the case of the master telling a person who 
had intruded himself into a seat to which he had no claim, to 
go down lower, when a more distinguished guest arrived ; 
whereas by the contrary conduct, by taking a place below his 
claims, the entertainer might be induced to say, "Friend go up 
higher." This was argument and illustration well suited to 
the men. He was far, however, from recommending the 
" pride that apes humility ;" for He immediately proceeded to 
ennoble the illustration by a grand maxim of conduct, appli- 
cable to both temporal and spiritual life: "For whosoever 
exalteth himself shall be abused, and he that humbleth him- 
self shall be exalted." He then pointed out with how little 
favor God regaided the lavish expenditure which the rich 
made in this way upon each other, mainly for selfish views, 
while so little care was taken to feed the hungry and succor 



TOUR IN PEREA. 363 

the destitute. And at last He led the subject into higher and 
more spiritual regions, in the striking parable of the Great 
Supper. We scarcely know a finer instance, even in the Bible, 
of the progressive advancement of the sense of the discourse, 
through all its stages, from the commonest to the highest 
matters. 

On another occasion, noticing the alacrity which the crowds 
evinced in following Him wherever He went, He turned round 
and told them it was no light matter to become his follower 
indeed ; for no one could become truly his who was not ready, 
if need should occur, to leave for his sake all things that flesh 
and blood hold dear. 

By this time the publicans and sinners began to perceive 
that our Lord did not regard them with disfavor, — that He did 
not regard them with the scorn and pride with which the ordi- 
nary religious teachers of that day, — and, indeed, all who 
called themselves respectable, looked down upon them. They 
therefore gathered to Him, and listened to Him with eagerness. 
They then found that He had not the least objection to asso- 
ciate with them, or even to take food with them. This filled the 
Pharisees with disgust, which our Lord rebuked, and at the 
same time justified his own conduct, in the beautiful parables 
of the Lost Sheep, the Piece of Silver, and the Prodigal Son. 

He then turned to those of the publicans and sinners who 
had become his disciples, and in the parable of the Unjust 
Steward, warned them against the peculiar dangers to which 
they were by their position exposed, from the pursuit of worldly 
gain. The Pharisees — who were, in fact, as greedy as the 
publicans themselves after gain — heard this parable and the 
applicatory remarks that followed, with unconcealed derision ; 
whereupon Jesus again addressed himself to them in the ever- 
memorable parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus. 

Another time Jesus strongly enforced upon his disciples the 
necessity of their manifesting a sincere reluctance of " giving 
offence" — that is, of throwing any stumbling-blocks, by their 
conduct and deportment, in the way of others— and of showing 
truly forgiving tempers towards each other. It is evident that 



364 THIRTY-EIGHTH WEEK WEDNESDAY. 

these two rules taken together — a reluctance to give offence, 
and a backwardness in taking offence — must be most effectual 
for securing harmony and peace among any body of Christian 
people. It is, however, difficult in the extent indicated ; and 
the disciples feeling this, very properly cried, " Lord, increase 
our faith." This led Him to illustrate the importance and po- 
tency of faith, and of that true humbleness of mind which counts 
as nought all that can be done or suffered. 

One day as He approached a village, ten lepers cried to Him 
from afar, entreating Him to have mercy upon them. The 
circumstances are much the same as in the case of the single 
leper formerly cured in Galilee — with this difference that they 
were not healed at once, but were directed to go and show 
themselves to the priest, according to the law. By this it 
would seem, that their faith had been less evident in the first 
instance, than in the case of the man who had formerly been 
healed, and was, therefore, subjected to this small trial. The 
direction presupposed that they would be cured by the time 
they reached Jerusalem. If they believed this, they would go 
thither ; if they doubted, they would not consider it worth their 
while. They all, however, went, and all were cured as they 
proceeded on their way. With joyful hearts they hastened on 
to claim from the priest formal deliverance from their sad 
estate. All hastened on save one. He lingered, and then turned 
back, even to the postponement of the full measure of his hap- 
piness, that he might pour out the gratitude of a full heart 
at the feet of his Deliverer. This man was a Samaritan. "When 
he again came to Jesus, our Lord took notice of the deep 
and earnest emotion with which he glorified God, and poured 
forth his thanks. He noticed, also, that this was the only 
one who had returned. " Were there not ten cleansed ?" he 
asked — " but where are the nine ? There are not found that 
returned to give glory to God, save this stranger." Then He 
said encouragingly to the man — Arise, go thy way : thy faith 
hath made thee whole." 

The answer of our Lord to the Pharisees, who asked Him 
when the kingdom of God — that is, the Messiah's kingdom — 



TOUR IN PEREA. 



365 



would come, and the parables of the Importunate "Widow, and 
of the Pharisee and Publican, mark the farther steps of this 
important journey. 

Farther on, some mothers brought their little children for 
his blessing — probably as He was leaving some village — bul 
the women were churlishly repulsed by the disciples, who 
were listening to a discourse on the too common practice of 
divorce, which must have been of deep interest to them. When 
Jesus noticed this action, He told them, with some severity, to 
allow the children to come to Him, "for of such," He said, " is 
the kingdom of heaven." And He drew them to Him, taking 
some in his arms, and bestowed upon them his blessing — a bless- 
ing of more worth than the spoil of empires, but the full value 
of which was, probably, not well understood by the mothers. 
They were, it is likely, such women as still in the East covet 
greatly for their little ones the blessing of some great teacher 
or holy man. 




It was farther on that a rich young man came to Jesu? pro- 
fessing his readiness to follow Him, but went away great / dis- 
heartened, when he was told to sell all he had, and to distrib- 
ute the proceeds among the poor. To cast aside thf world 
to this extent, he was not, with all his zeal, prepared ; jor did 
he count our Lord's assurance that he should have t* asure in 
heaven a sufficient compensation. Yet he went awg.y sorrow- 
ful to find a bar opposed to intentions which his faiCi was not 



366 THIRTY-EIGHTH WEEK — THURSDAY. 

able to surmount. Jesus looked after him with concern as he 
departed, and said—" How hardly shall they that have riches 
enter into the kingdom of God ! For it is easier for a camel 
to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter 
the kingdom of God." This metaphor has seemed difficult. 
The gates of towns had often narrow side entrances through 
which only passengers on foot could pass. Any one who has 
seen Temple-bar, or the gates of many of our old towns, will 
understand this \erj well, Now, these side passages were, and 
are still, in some parts called " needles' eyes ;" and, therefore, it 
is probable that our Lord's expression has reference to the diffi- 
culty which a large and tall beast like a camel laden with bag- 
gage would find in attempting to pass through one of these 
side passages reserved for pedestrians. 



THIRTY-EIGHTH WEEK— THURSDAY. 

JESUS AT JERICHO. 
MATT. xx. 17-34; MARK X. 32-52 ; LUKE XVIII. 31 XIX. 27. 

It was formerly explained that the pilgrims from Galilee to 
Jerusalem at the Passover, very generally went by the route on 
the other side of the Jordan, in order to avoid passing through 
Samaria. As that festival was now at hand, large bodies of 
pilgrims were already on the move from that quarter as well 
well as from Perea ; and Jesus fell in with this crowd in getting 
near the point where they usually passed the Jordan, and to 
which the different streams of travellers of necessity converged. 

The disciples now distinctly perceived that their Master 
intended to proceed with the pilgrims to Jerusalem ; and they 
held back in dismay, knowing that his destruction had been 
determined on by the ruling authorities there. Perceiving 
this, Jesus took them aside, not to remove their fears as ground- 
less, but to confirm their worst apprehensions. He hid nothing 
from them ; He palliated nothing. He announced his be- 
trayal, and mentioned the very persons to whom He should 



JESUS AT JERICHO. 36"? 

be betrayed, namely, the Scribes and Pharisees. He foretold 
his condemnation to death ; his delivery up to the Gentiles ■ 
his mockings and scourgings ; his crucifixion, and his resurrec- 
tion on the third day. The time was to come when they would 
understand all this well enough ; but the evangelist plainly 
declares that they could not then comprehend it. They be- 
lieved their Master to be the Messiah; and although their 
original views as to the nature of his kingdom had been con- 
siderably modified by what they had from time to time heard 
from Him, they still regarded it as essentially a temporal king- 
dom, to be presently established ; and were unable to connect 
with the Messiah's person the ideas of humiliation, suffering, 
and death. It was also unaccountable to them, why He, 
knowing so clearly what awaited Him at Jerusalem, should 
persist in proceeding thither. If they had duly pondered upon 
all that they had heard from Him, the bitter as well as the 
sweet, they would not now have been much at a loss ; but they 
had for the present left shut up in the darker chambers of their 
memory, all but what they liked to remember. 

It was soon perceived by the disciples that a large portion 
of the crowd of pilgrims were favorably disposed towards Jesus, 
and quite ready to hail Him as the king Messiah; there 
seemed, indeed, to be a general expectation that at this Pass- 
over some great event would occur, and that He would at 
length stand forward openly in assertion of his Messianic claims. 
They perceived also with joy that their Master did not as usual 
avoid the attentions of the people, or labor to dispel their ex- 
pectations. The fact was, that it was part of the Divine plan 
that He should, by his public entry into Jerusalem, claim the 
Messiahship as his right, and that this claim should be recog- 
nised by the people before the final scenes. 

This being the case, the disciples presently forgot what their 
Lord had been saying to them, and fixed their attention and 
their hopes upon visions of that power and glory, which they 
conceived the public enthusiasm would in a few days compel 
Him to assume. 

It is only in view of this that we can understand the incident 



368 THIRTY-EIGHTH WEEK — THURSDAY. 

that follows, and which all the evangelists agree in placing just 
after the prediction which Jesus delivered to his disciples. 

Salome, the mother of Zebedee's children, that is, of John 
and James, presented herself with the profoundest homage 
before Jesus, and asked Him to promise to grant whatever she 
might ask. Our Lord declined to make any such promise, and 
desired to know at once what it was she required ; and it then 
came out to be nothing less than this — that her two sons 
should sit, the one on his right hand and the other on his left 
in his kingdom, evidently meaning, in the grand Messianic 
kingdom He was about to establish. The meaning was that 
they should, by his special favor, occupy the highest places, 
the places nearest to Him, in that kingdom. The brothers had 
either instigated this application of their mother, or had sanc- 
tioned it at her instigation. We incline to the latter view, as 
the application has altogether a motherly aspect. Still, James 
and John had made it theirs, and to them Jesus addressed 
himself. He told them, " Ye know not what ye ask," and 
presently the ignorance and presumptuous confidence of the 
two brethren were more manifestly shown. Jesus asked them, 
" Are ye able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of, and to 
be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with ?" In 
this question was involved no less than one touching their 
spiritual strength, and their capacity to suffer as their Master 
suffered. Yet they heedlessly and rashly answered, " We are 
able." But in his gracious indulgence to their weakness, Jesus 
passed over all this without notice, and immediately answered 
that they should indeed be partakers of his sufferings ; and 
although He withheld any direct information, exclusively 
relating to themselves (as distinct from their brethren of the 
apostolic company), still, as He had on a former occasion in- 
timated, He now repeated, that special honors and dignities 
were to exist in his future kingdom, and should assuredly be 
given to those of his servants and saints for whom God had 
prepared them, to be their honor and everlasting reward.* 

* See more fully on this transaction, Life and Character of St. John y 
by the Rev. Francis Trench. London. 1850. 



JESUS AT JERICHO. 369 

The other apostles were indignant at this attempt of the sons 
of Zebedee to attain the superiority over them. Perceiving 
this, Jesus told them, that although " the kings of the earth" 
gave such distinctions to their favorites as those to which the 
sons of Zebedee aspired, it would not be so now among them ; 
for in his immediate kingdom, he would be the greatest, who 
should be the most holy and most useful — most the servant of 
all. 

As Jesus, with the pilgrim crowd, approached Jericho, a 
blind man, the son of Timseus, and, therefore, called Bar-timseus 
(Bar meaning " son") who sat begging by the way side, heard 
the tramp of many feet, and inquired what it all meant. He 
was told that Jesus of Nazareth was passing by. No sooner 
did he catch that name, with which the nation now rang from 
side to side, than he began to cry aloud, with the passionate 
earnestness of one who feared that to be unheard now, was to 
lose his only hope : " Jesus, thou Son of David, have mercy on 
me !" Those who passed, told him to hold his peace, and not 
with his base cries disturb the triumphant march of the Mes- 
sianic king. But the great need of his life was at stake ; for 
having heard of the cure of the man born blind at Jerusalem — 
and who had not heard of that ? — he had no doubt that to 
gain the attention of Jesus was to be healed. His faith was 
entire — both in His power to heal, and in His character as " the 
Son of David" — the title by which the Messiah was best known. 
He therefore cried the more loudly and vehemently, "Thou 
Son of David, have mercy on me I" And the Son of David 
heard him, and stood still, and commanded him to be called. 
Then those who were near to him said, " Be of good comfort, 
rise : He calleth thee !" And at that word, he sprung to his 
feet ; and casting off the loose upper garment that impeded his 
blind steps, and which people usually laid aside when they ran 
or labored, he hastened, as he never before had hastened — im- 
pelled from one kind hand to another — till he stood before the 
Redeemer. " What wilt thou that I should do unto thee V* 
was the question that Jesus asked. The man had only cried 
for "mercy" before, and he is now required to name the special 

16* 



370 THIRTY-EIGHTH WEEK THURSDAY. 

mercy that lie craved. It was, " Lord, that I may receive my 
sight." Then Jesus, who seems to have always manifested a 
special tenderness for the blind, had compassion upon him, and 
said, " Receive thy sight." And by that word of power his 
cure was instantly effected. The man who had hitherto been 
tied by his infirmity to one place, was now free to go where he 
listed ; and he chose well ; for he chose to follow Jesus by 
the way, glorifying God, and being the occasion that others 
glorified His name as well. 

Jericho, then a large and important city, was itself stirred at 
the approach of Jesus with the pilgrim host. Among the in- 
habitants was Zaccheus, the chief of the publicans or tax- 
gatherers in that district, their supervisor, to whom they ren- 
dered their accounts. He was very rich, as he might well be 
in a post so profitable, and affording so many opportunities of 
extortion. This person felt a strong desire to see Jesus, of 
whose kindness to his despised order he had, doubtless, heard 
much from other publicans, and who had, in fact, a publican 
among his chosen friends and followers. But how could he 
see Him ? Jesus would not be likely to pass his house, nor did 
He travel in any state, in palanquin, or upon horse or camel, 
so as to be seen from far, but walked on foot along the dusty 
roads, undistinguished, probably, in stature or appearance, from 
the crowds around Him. Besides, Zaccheus himself was a little 
man, who could not even thrust his way through a crowd, or 
overlook the heads of others. His anxiety to see the good 
Prophet of Nazareth was however so strong, that he mounted 
one of the trees — a sycamore tree, that grew beside the road 
which Jesus must pass — taking the example probably from the 
boys, who had doubtless " manned," for the occasion, all the 
trees overlooking the road, for boys are boys everywhere, and 
in all ages, the most ancient things existing, being the same 
now as they were two thousand or five thousand years ago. 
Zaccheus himself was but a boy in stature, and therefore the 
better suited for the post he had chosen ; and even the Jericho 
boys would hardly venture to dispute a seat with the terrible 
little publican, whom their fathers regarded with dread. 



JESUS AT JERICHO. 3*71 

Zaccheus had his heart's desire. He saw Jesus ; and what 
was of more consequence to his welfare, Jesus saw him. Per- 
haps it was at the moment that a feeling of adhesion to Christ 
was rising up and filling his heart, that Jesus looked up, and 
accosting him by his ?iame, said, " Zaccheus, make haste, and 
come down ; for to-day I must abide at thy house," that is, for 
the remainder of the day, and till He should resume his 
journey the next morning. A glad man was Zaccheus then ; 
he came down briskly from the tree, and with a joyful heart 
conducted Jesus to his house. If Jesus had sought honor of 
men, this stroke at the particular time would have been injuri- 
ous to Him. As it was, there was a general murmur of dis- 
approbation among the people, that He, whom they were pre- 
pared to regard as entitled to the highest place on earth, should 
so demean himself as to become the guest of one who was " a 
sinner." 

What took place in the house of Zaccheus is not fully re- 
ported by the evangelist, — but the result is given, and is such 
as to show that the publican profited well by the Divine teach- 
ings he was now enabled to receive from the mouth of Jesus, 
who had clearly a more promising pupil than in the rich young 
man who had lately turned back from Him. He stood forth 
and declared that he would give half he possessed to feed the 
poor, and that in any case where he had used for unjust gain 
the power entrusted to him, he would make compensation four- 
fold. In our days he would probably have expressed himself 
as meaning to restore principal and interest — but the law for- 
bade the Jews to take interest of one another. The same law 
required a fourfold restitution, upon conviction, from a man 
who stole a sheep ; but he had only to add one-fifth of the 
value, when, without being detected or tried, he made a volun- 
tary confession of his offence. Zaccheus, therefore, shows the 
unflinching character of his repentance, by voluntarily subject- 
ing himself to the stringent penalties incurred only by a con- 
viction in the courts of law. Some have thought that he speaks 
of his ordinary past conduct, — of what he had been in the habit 
of doinff — instead of his intentions for the future. But surely 



372 THIRTY-EIGHTH WEEK FRIDAY. 

be would never have got rich, if he had, as alleged, \>een in 
the habit of making extortions, and then restoring fourfold. In 
that case, also, such a recapitulation of his own meritorious con- 
duct would have savored much of Pharisaic self-righteousness, 
and would have been little like to have drawn from our Saviour 
the declaration : " This day is salvation come to this house — 
for that he also is a son of Abraham." Adding, for the benefit 
of those who had murmured at his attention to publicans — • 
" For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which 
was lost." 

It was before He left Jericho that our Lord sought to correct 
the views which He saw that the disciples had speedily re- 
sumed, notwithstanding his declarations, by the parable of the 
Ten Pounds, in which He illustrates his present and future 
coming, by that of a king who comes to take account of his 
servants — first in gentleness and condescension ; but when he 
has been despised and rejected by them, again coming in ir- 
resistible might to reward his faithful servants and execute 
judgment upon his enemies. 






THIRTY-EIGHTH WEEK— FRIDAY. 

THE TRIUMPHAL ENTRY. 

MATT. XXI. 1-17 ; MARK XI. 1-11 ; LUKE XIX. 29-44 J 

JOHN XII. 12-19. 

We are informed by St. John that our Lord arrived at Beth- 
any six days, or rather on the sixth day, before the Passover. 
It is always to be remembered that the Jews counted the com- 
mencement of their days at sunset, as do at present all the 
Oriental nations ; so that with them night precedes day, and 
does not follow it, as with us. Now, the Passover was on 
Friday night— that is, on the night preceding the day on which 
our Lord was crucified, and following the day of Thursday— 
or more briefly, on what would have been, by our reckoning, 



THE TRIUMPHAL ENTRY. 373 

Thursday night. Counting back from this to the sixth ante- 
cedent day, we come to Saturday, on which day, therefore, it 
was that our Lord reached Bethany. Every day that follows 
teems with circumstances of deep interest, Avhich must now 
engage our attention. 

It seems that our Lord came from Jericho, or from some in- 
termediate place, only with his own party — the pilgrims hav 
ing preceded him on the journey, and gone forward to Jeru- 
salem. Jesus probably arrived at Bethany towards evening, 
and concluded to remain there with his friend Lazarus over 
night, and to proceed to Jerusalem in the morning. 

There was a great excitement concerning Jesus at Jeru 
salem. The still recent miracle of the raising of Lazarus, was 
the standing topic of conversation in the city, as the strangers 
coming in were anxious to know all that they could concerning 
it, while the Jerusalemites were naturally anxious to tell these 
anxious listeners all that they knew or thought of the transac- 
tion. We may be very sure that any one who had been ac- 
tually present on that occasion, found himself a great man in 
these days. The sensation excited by this miracle among the 
strangers was very great, and even the Jerusalemites felt 
their own interest in it revive under this external influence. It 
was also known that the Sanhedrim had determined upon our 
Lord's destruction ; and so far from making any secret of this, 
they had given public notice that any one who knew where He 
was to be found, should give information, in order that He 
might be apprehended. Thus, while the enthusiasm in his 
favor was in its most excited state, the machinations against 
Him attained the most determinate vigor, and both friends and 
enemies felt that the crisis of his career was come. It was 
only left for Him to reign or to perish. The pilgrims from 
the way of Jericho brought the first tidings of his approach ; 
and soon it was known throughout the city that He had arrived 
at Bethany. It was to be expected that he would come over 
to Jerusalem on the morrow ; but without waiting for this, 
there was an instant rush of people to Bethany, not only to see 
Jesus, but to behold Lazarus — the living evidence of His power 



3*74 THIRTY-EIGHTH WEEK FKIDAY. 

— a power not hitherto witnessed on earth ; and, certainly, to 
behold a man who had been four days in the grave — four 
days dead — was no ordinary sight, and well worth going two 
miles to see. In fact, the impression made by this miracle — 
resting, as it did, on the most unquestionable evidence, was so 
strong, and led so many to feel that He who had wrought 
this great work could be no other than the Messiah, that the 
Sanhedrim was led to seek the destruction of Lazarus also, 
as one whose mere existence was a standing testimony in favor 
of Jesus, and was felt to be such by the numerous persons who 
resorted to Bethany. What was eventually done in regard 
to Lazarus we know not. Probably, it was not considered 
worth while to molest him after their main design had been 
accomplished. But, from this point, it is well to bear in mind 
that the ruling authorities at Jerusalem have fully determined 
upon our Lord's doom, and stand watching for a favorable op- 
portunity of carrying their purpose into execution. 

It may be asked, why they did not send over to Bethany 
and apprehend Him. The answer is, that they dared not 
That place was by this time thronged with people highly ex- 
cited in his favor, and prepared to hail with acclamations any 
claims He might advance; and in the city itself the general 
feeling ran high in his favor. It was, therefore, impossible 
openly to seize his person by any force they could command, or 
without the danger of raising a popular commotion, which, 
from dread of the Kornans, they were most anxious to avoid. 

The next morning (Sunday) Jesus left Bethany, accompanied 
by a host of people, whose disposition to regard Him as pro- 
ceeding to take possession of David's throne was unmistakably 
displayed. Of this enthusiasm in his favor, though He knew 
it to be transient, Jesus purposed to avail himself, in order to 
manifest in the most open manner his claim to be the King, 
anointed from on high, to whom the prophets had borne wit- 
ness, and to announce, in the most effectual way, that the 
kingdom of God had indeed come. He had, it is true, ad- 
vanced this claim often, so that the sincere and the discerning 
could not fail to understand Him ; yet not always so plainly 



THE TRIUMPHAL ENTRY. 375 

as that unwilling ears should be compelled to understand that 
this claim was made, whether they admitted it or not. The 
time for this was now come ; the end was at hand ; and it be- 
hoved him not to quit the world, leaving to any, then or after, 
the excuse that He had not declared himself plainly. That 
Jesus was not, as some allege, driven to this by the urgent en- 
thusiasm of the people, but that He willingly entered into it. 
is shown by the more than passive part He took in the proceed- 
ings, by his vindication of the act to the murmuring Pharisees, 
and by the consideration, that if such had been his wish, He 
could easily have withdrawn himself from the multitude, as 
he had on former occasions done, and have privately entered 
the city. Drawing nearer to Jerusalem, Jesus mounted the 
unbroken colt of an ass, not only that He might be better 
seen, but in conformity with the prophecy of Zechariah — 
" Fear not, daughter of Sion : behold thy King cometh sitting 
on an ass's colt. We have more than once mentioned that 
no idea of degradation or humiliation is attached in the East, 
to riding upon an ass. It is a beast, the ideas connected with 
which are those of peace, and contrasted with the prancing 
horses of war. It, therefore, is much preferred by men of 
peaceful pursuits and sacred functions ; and our Lord's adop- 
tion of it for his triumphal entry, significantly hinted to the 
people the real nature of his kingdom. Animals not previously 
used for labor, were accounted specially pure and fit for sacred 
services. Hence only oxen unused to the yoke were offered 
on the altar. This serves to explain why a beast was on this 
occasion chosen " whereon yet never man sat." The ass was 
borrowed for the occasion by the disciples, by their Lord's di- 
rection, at a village near the road, being willingly lent by the 
owner, when he knew for whose use it was intended ; and 
some of the disciples having thrown their outer garments over 
its back, Jesus mounted thereon, and was escorted onward 
with royal honors, and with shouts due to kings, towards the 
city. ' 

When the procession appeared upon the brow of the Mount, 
another great band went forth from the city to meet the others. 



376 THIRTY-EIGHTH WEEK FRIDAY. 

There was a moment's parley ; and when the men from Beth- 
any assured the new-comers that all which had been reported 
concerning the raising of Lazarus was true, they not only 
joined the shout and the triumph, but while some hurried to 
strew the young branches gathered from the adjoining trees 
along the path, others flung their robes before his feet. These 
are old, and, in the East, still subsisting modes of rendering 
homage to kings and conquerors. 

Descending the Mount of Olives, the disciples, who deemed 
that the long-desired hour had at length come, " began to re- 
joice, and praise God for all the mighty works that they had 
seen ;" and then proceeded, joined by the multitude, to raise the 
cries, taken from the Psalms, which, were regarded by all the 
Jews as appropriate to the Messiah, and proper to hail his ap- 
pearance — 

"Hosanna! 
Blessed is the king of Isi-ael, 

That cometh in the name of the Lord. 
Blessed be the kingdom of our father David, 
That cometh in the name of the Lord. 
Hosanna in the highest 1" 

It is likely that the swelling sound of this mighty cry, 
the deep significance of which was well known to all who 
heard it, reached even the Sanhedrim in the temple, and struck 
them with fear. Some of the Pharisees had mingled with the 
crowd, and they could not contain themselves when they heard 
this, but, fearless of the danger of exasperating the people, they 
called upon Jesus to repress the unseemly demonstrations of 
his followers. He answered that the event was of sucb deep 
importance, as might well raise even the dullest minds to cele- 
brate it. The expression of gladness was proper, and ought 
not to be restrained. This was conveyed in the phrase, doubt- 
less proverbial—" I tell you that, if these should hold their 
peace, the very stones would immediately cry out." Then the 
living stream poured on, and the shouts became louder and more 
joyous, the nearer the city was reached. 

Yet there was a pause — a solemn pause, upon the declivity 



THE TRIUMPHAL ENTRY. 377 

of the hill, as He looked upon the city which He now visited 
for the last time ; and in a few sentences of strong emotion, 
evinced even by tears, He expressed his grief for the ruinous 
overthrow which awaited it, and which even He could not 
avert, seeing that his voice had been disregarded in the streets. 

The procession then moved on, and entered the gates of 
Jerusalem. The city, crowded at this time with strangers in 
addition to the inhabitants, was stirred by this triumphing 
clamor, and men asked one another, Who is this ? and when 
they heard " It is Jesus, the prophet of Nazareth," no further 
explanation was needed. The crowd passed on to the temple. 
Here its shouts were for awhile hushed. Here, doubtless, 
Jesus would by some magnificent, perhaps terrible demonstra- 
tion of his power, convince even the gainsay ers, who could not 
then but join the excited people, in hailing Him as King. This 
probably was the general expectation — even that of the disci- 
ples. At least, He would make some strong oration, claiming 
all his rights, and proceeding at once to act upon them, able 
as He doubtless was by his deeds to vindicate all his claims, 
and to confound all his adversaries. But nothing of this en- 
sued. What He did was to heal the blind and lame, who, as 
soon as they heard of his arrival, hastened to present them- 
selves before Him in the temple. Jesus had, however, accus- 
tomed the people to regard such acts as ordinary matters, and 
public expectation was not satisfied. But the young people 
present, less hardened and more susceptible, were abundantly 
satisfied ; and their fresh young hearts being suitably impressed 
by those manifestations of pity for calamity, and power to re- 
lieve it, they took up the dropped cry with their thin voices, 
and the temple cloisters echoed with — " Hosanna to the Son of 
David !" 

Several members of the Sanhedrim were present ; and al- 
though they dared not as yet take any open measures for stem- 
ming the torrent of popular enthusiasm, which had set in so 
strongly in favor of Jesus, their hearts were filled with fear, 
rage, and envy, and they would not let pass any opportunity 
of cavilling at his proceedings, or of turning the direction of tha 



378 THIRTY-EIGHTH WEEK SATURDAY. 

stream. " Hearest Thou what these say ?" He answered, as 
was usual with Him, by a quotation from Scripture, to which 
there could be no reply: "Yea, have ye never read, out of the 
mouths of babes and sucklings Thou hast perfected praise ?" 
They were offended that even children should take up this cry ; 
but the answer showed that even children might lift up their 
young voices to praise God. 

The enthusiasm which had been this day manifested, was 
somewhat checked by the absence of the expected results. If 
Jesus had taken it at the tide, it might have led to signal re- 
sults ; but He had other aims, and suffered the opportunity to 
pass. This was a great disappointment, not only to the crowd, 
but to the disciples. But, still, what had not been done to-day, 
might be done to-morrow ; and thus every day gave birth to 
new expectations, which were not destined to be realized. 

Jesus returned in the evening to Bethany, aiid spent the 
night there. 



THIRTY-EIGHTH WEEK— SATURDAY. 

THE BARREN FIG TREE. 
MATT. XXI. 12 XXII. 14 ; MARK XI. 12 XII. 12 ; LUKE 

xix. 45 — xxi. 38. 

The country between Jerusalem and Bethany is very rich 
in figs. Indeed, the village of Bethphage interposed between 
the two places, derived its name, which means " house" or 
" place of figs," from this circumstance, and it is quite likely 
that the incident before us occurred there. 

• Passing over to Jerusalem the next morning, Jesus felt hun- 
gry. As this fact implies that the party had not breakfasted 
before leaving Bethany, it seems at the first view to speak but 
poorly for the hospitality of the good people there. The fact 
is, however, that with the Orientals the breakfast hour is late 
in the forenoon ; and as our Lord's time waxed short, and He 
had important business to transact at Jerusalem, it was not to 



THE BARREN FIG-TREE. 379 

be supposed that He would remain at Bethany till after the 
breakfast hour. Martha at least, it may be hinted, might have 
prepared breakfast earlier with regard to these circumstances. 
But, besides that a guest, and especially a guest such as Jesus 
would not be likely to allow any serious derangement of the 
family customs on his account, it was considered unbecoming 
to take the morning meal before the hour of morning sacrifice, 
which was at nine o'clock ; so that, taking all things into ac- 
count, our Lord could not have reached Jerusalem till nearly 
eleven o'clock, if He had tarried at Bethany for the earliest 
breakfast He could have had.* 

Being hungry, our Lord went up to a fig-tree which pre- 
sented an unusual show of leaves for the season, " if haply He 
might find fruit thereon," but when He reached it, nothing was 
found thereon but leaves; "for," adds the evangelist, "the time 
of figs was not yet." Then Jesus laid upon that tree the doom 
of utter barrenness thereafter, " No man eat fruit of thee here- 
after forever." 

There are some apparent difficulties in this, such as are not 
found in any other of our Lord's miracles. If the time of figs 
was not yet, why should he expect to find fruit on that tree ; 
and not finding it, why should the tree be condemned for not 
bearing fruit out of season ? 

In seeking an answer, we must remember that this took 
place where fig-trees abounded, and where there must have 
been some particular appearance about this tree to excite the 
expectation of finding fruit upon it. This appearance we have 
not far to seek. It was full of leaves, which was not the case 
with the others ; for the Jewish writers attest that the leaves 
of the fig-tree began to make their appearance at the time of 
the Passover ; and our Lord himself represents the appearance 
of the leaves of the fig-tree as a sign of near summer. (Matt, 
xiii. 28.) This tree, therefore, had the peculiar appearance of 
possessing an ample dress of foliage, while the other trees were 
comparatively bare. This appearance of the tree warranted 

* Thus— Breakfast at the earliest, 91 ; half an hour at breakfast, 10 : 
half an hour's walk at least 10|. 



380 



THIRTY-EIGHTH WEEK — SATURDAY. 



the expectation that some edible figs might be found upon it; 
for as the fruit of the fig-tree appears before the leaf, an ad- 
vanced state of the foliage warranted the expectation of a 
correspondingly advanced state of the fruit. It is, indeed, a 
well-known fact that under certain combinations of favorable 
circumstances, some fig trees may be so far in advance of their 
species, as to offer a few ripe figs many weeks before the full 
season ; and that this tree might be supposed in such a state 
of forwardness, is evinced by the state of the foliage. It should 




**hM 



be added, that although the full fig season is not until June, 
and it was at this time early in April, the fruit of the fig-tree 
is fit to be eaten considerably before it is fully ripe. 

There is another kind of fig-tree frequently mentioned by 
Jewish writers, which always had leaves, and on which the 
fruits of three seasons were found in different states of progress 
towards that maturity which was not fully reached till the third 
year. May it not have been to such a tree that our Lord re- 
sorted, attracted by the promise that its foliage held forth ? If 
bo, the clause, " the time of figs was not yet," may be taken to 



THE BARREN FIG-TREE. 381 

intimate why He did not expect to find figs on the common 
fig-trees, but did expect to find them on this. 

There is also the sycamore fig-tree, which is always green, 
and bears fruit at different seasons of the year. This might 
offer another alternative, but we do not ourselves prefer it, be- 
cause in this tree the appearance of foliage does not justify a 
strong expectation of fruit. 

For the rest, it is clear that our Lord's displeasure against 
the tree is founded upon its holding forth a promise which it 
did not fulfil. And the perception of this fact gives a clue to 
all the circumstances, and removes our Lord's action very far 
from that idle asperity against a senseless tree, which some 
have ventured to find in this proceeding. It is one of the rare 
instances in which our Lord, after the manner of the old proph- 
ets, teaches by symbolical action. 

Yesterday, He had bewailed the foreseen desolation of Israel, 
as having been unfaithful to her covenant promises, and about 
to frustrate her covenant hopes. To-day, He teaches the same 
fact by symbols. The tree is Israel. He — the same who 
planted it in times of old, goes to it, expecting the fruit which 
its fair appearance warranted ; but finding none, He pronounces 
judicially upon it the sentence of destruction. All this was to 
convey an important instruction, and impress a prophetic 
teaching; and this illustrates and dignifies an action which 
might at the first view seem adverse to the general purport 
and tendency of our Lord's teachings and miracles. It was a 
prophecy and a warning embodied in material facts. 

On our Lord's arrival at the temple this day, He found the 
traffic in the temple-courts, which He had rebuked at his first 
Passover, still in vigorous operation. He therefore did as He 
before had done, in expelling the intruders from the place, with 
this difference, that his now established character and position 
before the people, enabled him to dispense with " the whip of 
small cords." And to those who ventured to question his pro- 
ceedings, He answered, " Is it not written, My house shall be 
called a house of prayer ? but ye have made it a den of thieves." 

Apart from this, the present was a quiet day. The Sanhe- 



382 THIRTY-EIGHTH WEEK — SATURDAY. 

drim witnessed indeed with increasing apprehension the readi- 
ness with which the people flocked to Him, and the attention 
with which they listened to his teaching ; but they durst not 
yet risk the danger of exciting the passions of the multitude 
by taking a posture of open opposition. Jesus also was wary. 
He preached boldly, but was careful they should not take him 
at disadvantage in the temple ; the crowd of followers there 
was an adequate shield for Him, and eveiy night he left the 
city and proceeded to Bethany. Had he lodged in the town, 
means might have been found of surrounding the house, and 
making Him prisoner. 

On proceeding to the city the next day, the disciples observed 
that the doomed tree had altogether withered away. It had 
doubtless been in the same state the evening before ; as it was 
after nightfall, however, they had not been able to notice its 
condition — but the astonishment of the disciples, at seeing how 
soon the fig-tree had withered, afforded our Lord an occasion 
to instruct them in the nature and power of faith. 

Meanwhile, the Sanhedrim seems to have concluded that 
things could not be allowed to go on in this way, and that it 
had become absolutely necessary to make a strong effort to 
discredit Jesus with the multitude. Different persons were 
therefore appointed to try Him with hard questions, in the 
hope that his answers to problems expressly framed to bring 
Him into antagonism with public opinion, on matters where 
the people were most sensitive, would cause a revulsion of feeling 
to his disadvantage. 

First, He was asked by what authority He dared to act as 
He had done, in thus taking possession of the temple, as it 
were, for his own purposes, and assuming an authority to which 
they could not be expected to submit. But Jesus easily extri- 
cated himself from this snare, and caught them, as it were, in 
their own toils. He said they had asked Him a question, and 
He would ask one also of them ; and if they answered his, He 
would answer theirs — "The baptism of John, was it of God or 
man ?" They were completely nonplussed by this question. 
It was the firm opinion of the people that John was a prophet 



QUESTIONINGS. 383 

sent from God, and the veneration for his character had ac- 
quired strength, since his death had made him a martyr to 
righteousness and truth against Herodian tyranny and wicked- 
ness. To say that his mission was merely self-imposed, had 
been a gross and suicidal outrage to public opinion ; but to 
admit that it was of God, lay them open, as they perceived, to 
the retort, Why then did ye not believe him — why not believe 
the testimony he bore of Me? They therefore declined to 
answer ; and the people felt that Jesus on his part was justified 
in declining to answer the question they had put to Him. Nor 
was this the only rebuff they encountered, for they had to listen 
to doctrines the most of all others unpalatable to them — that 
their boasted privileges were nought, and would soon be taken 
away from them and given to those who would deserve them 
better. In the parables of the Two Sons, the Wicked Hus- 
bandmen, and the Marriage of the King's Son, this lesson was 
not obscurely taught. 



QUESTIONINGS. 

matt. xxii. 15 — xxv. 46 ; mark xii. 13 — xm. 37 ; 

LUKE XX. 20 XXI. 38. 

The next day, being Wednesday, our Lord went over as 
usual to Jerusalem. 

This was eminently a day of questions. 

The Pharisees had meanwhile held a council, and invited the 
co-operation of the parties to whom they were most adverse, 
under ordinary circumstances, but with whom they were in- 
clined to unite in the presence of a common danger. These 
were the Sadducees and the Herodians, both influential, but 
not very popular parties. The former denied the authority of 
the Pharisaic traditions, and stuck to the simple letter of the 
law, — so far they were likely to be pleased, rather than other- 



384 THIRTY-NINTH WEEK SUNDAY. 

wise, at the denunciation of those traditions, and of the Pharisaic 
practices founded upon them, which our Lord so often delivered. 
But they also disbelieved in the resurrection of the dead, and 
in the existence of angels, both of which the Pharisees main- 
tained ; and respecting which the teaching of our Lord was in 
accordance with the views of the latter. The Herodians seem 
to have been those who were inclined, from interest and policy, 
to support what remained of the power of the Herodian family 
in the north and east, as upon the whole the best and least de- 
pendent form of government that could be hoped for, under 
the existing circumstances of the country. This family, it was 
true, was not popular in Judea, but the co-operation of the 
Herodians being desired, it would not be difficult to show that 
if Jesus succeeded in the objects ascribed to Him, the Herodian 
family must soon lose all power and influence in Palestine. 
However much the views of those parties differed in general, 
they could easily be brought to apprehend that the alleged 
pretensions of Jesus, sanctioned by a popular movement, which 
seemed to be on the eve of breaking out, must be ruinous to 
their authority if He succeeded ; and if He failed — as fail He 
must, sooner or later — would bring down upon them the power 
of the Romans, to the utter destruction of their civil rights and 
their hierarchy, and perhaps to the subversion of their nation- 
ality itself. The destruction of Jesus had already been de- 
termined on, but how it was to be accomplished, was still as 
much a question as it had ever been. Surrounded as He still 
was by admiring crowds, quite ready to hail Him as their 
king, any attempt to seize Him openly would only hasten the 
crisis that seemed to them impending, and which they were so 
anxious to avert ; and to seize Him privately, his practice of 
leaving the city in the evening rendered difficult. It was con- 
cluded, then, to pursue the course of asking Him ensnaring 
questions ; his answers to which might either shake the confi- 
dence of the people in Him, or afford some grounds on which 
He might be denounced to the Roman governor, as an enemy 
of the state. The latter alternative was the most desirable, be- 
cause then the odium of all ulterior measures would rest with 



QUESTIONINGS. 385 

the Romans ; and because the Jews had not themselves the 
power of inflicting death, and it was doubtful whether these 
Pagans would inflict it on their representation, for merely a re- 
ligious offence. 

Hence their first question struck deep into the sore of the 
nation's heart : — " Was it lawful or not to pay tribute to 
Caesar ?" If He answered this insidious question in the nega- 
tive, He would indeed gratify the popular feeling, but would at 
the same time furnish ground on which to denounce Him to 
Pilate, as a preacher of sedition, whose command over the 
popular mind made Him a most dangerous enemy to the 
government. But if He said " Yes," He would cool or offend 
the multitude by pronouncing against that view of their posi- 
tion which the great body of the nation cherished in their 
hearts, and which many openly avowed. But our Lord saw 
the snare thus laid for Him, and avoided it with the same ad- 
mirable address which had confounded them yesterday. He 
asked them to show Him a piece of money ; and, on a Roman 
coin being put into his hands, He looked at it, and asked to 
whom pertained the efhgy and inscription that it bore. They 
answered, to Caesar; and He then 'rejoined quickly, "Render, 
therefore, unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and unto 
God the things that are God's" — alluding perhaps in the latter 
clause, to the temple tribute, which He had himself formerly 
paid, and which was usually paid in Jewish coin, as the other 
was in Roman. Those who put this question were probably 
the Herodians. Their allies seem to have been somewhat 
daunted by this palpable defeat ; nevertheless they were not 
driven from their purpose, and the Saclducees advanced to the 
attack. Their question was framed to put Him between the 
horns of what seemed an insurmountable dilemma, levelled at 
the views He was known to entertain, and which was not the 
less pleasant to them in that it aimed a side blow, at the same 
time, at their old enemies the Pharisees. They proposed the 
case of a woman having seven brothers for husbands in success- 
ion, and all of them dying before her ; and asked, whose wife 
she should be of the seven " in the resurrection," seeing that 

vol. in. 1*1 



386 THIRTY-NINTH WEEK SUNDAY. 

they were all equally her husbands ? The question seems to 
imply that, since Jesus had upheld the doctrine of the resurrec- 
tion, his views on the subject were the same as were, then 
generally current, and which ascribed a considerably carnal 
character to the beatitude of the future life. Our Lord's an- 
swer both corrected their misconception and broke through 
their dilemma, by informing them that they erred, " not under- 
standing the Scriptures, nor the power of God," for that in the 
future life no such relations as that of husband and wife existed, 
but a higher and more perfect nature would be taken, assimi- 
lated to that of " the angels of God." But He went beyond 
their question, and gave them an unanswerable proof, even 
from that portion of the Old Scripture, on which they most re- 
lied, from the words which God himself uttered from the bush, 
that there is a future life, and that those who are dead to man 
are still alive to God. 

The Pharisees enjoyed this discomfiture of their old an- 
tagonists exceedingly. This was especially the case of the man 
who was to try Jesus on their behalf; and it was not entirely 
with an invidious feeling that he delivered himself of his prob- 
lem. It was, Which was the greatest of all the command- 
ments ? 

The test seems to have here lain in the fact that, by singling 
out one of the commandments as the chiefest and most import- 
ant, our Lord would seem to cast disrespect on the others — it 
being the general opinion, that all the commandments, even as 
traced out to their most remote and trivial issues, were of equal 
importance. But our Lord disposed of all this by giving a 
summary of the whole of the religious part of the law in a few 
words — " Thou shalt love the Lord with all thy soul." This 
was the primary commandment ; and that this, however unde- 
niable, might not be construed into disrespect for the obliga- 
tions of social law, He added—" And the second is like unto 
it; Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two 
commandments hang all the law and the prophets." The 
lawyer (for such he was) was struck with admiration at this 
answer ; and, with the sincerity of honest conviction, said as 



QUESTIONINGS. 387 

much — declaring that he believed obedience to these two laws 
to be " more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices." On hear- 
ing this, the Pharisees were dismayed, and saw that they had 
lost their champion, while Jesus looked approvingly upon him, 
and said — " Thou art not far from the kingdom of God." Let 
us hope that he reached it. To be " not far from the kingdom 
of God," and yet not to enter therein, is one of the most un- 
happy dooms that can befall a man. 

Before they had time to recover from this discomfiture, Jesus, 
in his turn, proposed a question to them. Whose son was the 
Messiah ? The ready answer was, " The Son of David." Then, 
said He, quoting one of the Messianic Psalms (ex. 1), " How 
doth David in the Spirit call Him Lord ? If David then call 
Him Lord, how is He his son ?" We can answer this, but 
they could not. They held down their heads in confusion ; 
and from that day forward no one was hardy enough to ask 
Him any more questions. 

Jesus then turned to the people, pronouncing a terrible de- 
nunciation of the Pharisees, and a keen exposure of their hy- 
pocritical pretences, concluding with the same lamentation over 
Jerusalem, stained with the blood of the prophets, which He 
had delivered on approaching Jericho, and declaring that all 
this blood would be required of the existing generation. 

This and other declarations of the day must have had some 
effect in disabusing the crowd as to his intention of setting up 
a temporal Messianic kingdom, and of making Jerusalem once 
more the glory of the earth, and lady of the kingdoms. They 
had waited from day to day ; and it had now become clear 
that He did not contemplate any such demonstration as they 
expected, and were ready to uphold. Many still wavered — ■ 
many were still willing to adhere to Him on any terms ; but, 
taking the people in the mass, it is here we would place the 
commencement of that re-action of the public enthusiasm, 
which was soon to be attended with the most awful results. 

There was a pause here: and Jesus being seated ;t over 
against the treasury," which we formerly had occasion to men- 
tion, noticed the rich men ostentatiously casting in their liberal 



388 THIRTY-NINTH WEEK — SUNDAY. 

offerings, when presently a poor widow approached, and dropped 
in " two mites, which make a farthing," or rather somewhat 
less ; and He failed not to call attention to this circumstance, 
declaring that this gift of the poor woman was really greater, 
more acceptable to God, than those of the others, — for they 
had only given some portion of their superabundance, whereas 
she offered all she had — even all her living. It was thus that 
our Lord was ever ready to seize any passing circumstance, 
which might be made instrumental to the instruction of his 
followers. 

On leaving the temple for the day, the disciples called his 
attention to the size and beauty of the stones, and the magnifi- 
cence of the building. And He then told them that the time 
was not distant when of all these stones not one should be left 
upon another. Afflicted at this intelligence, the disciples walked 
sadly on ; and when they had reached the Mount of Olives, 
they paused and looked back upon the city, which lay spread 
out like a panorama before them. Jesus sat down, as if, in the 
calm sunset, to contemplate that scene so beautiful, but doomed 
so soon to utter ruin and overthrow. The disciples, respecting 
his contemplative mood, drew apart ; but presently four of 
them (Peter, James, John, and Andrew) drew near, and pri- 
vately asked Him for more full information respecting these 
things. " Tell us when shall these things be. And what shall 
be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world ?" — 
three points on which they had already received various inti- 
mations, which had occasioned much speculation among them, 
and of which they now desired to be more explicitly informed. 
They wished to know, first, when those terrible things He had 
spoken against Jerusalem would be accomplished ? What 
would be the signs of his coming ? " Coming" implies previ- 
ous absence ; so that it would seem these chosen disciples at 
least had concluded, from his repeated intimations, that He 
was about to leave them (how, they were afraid to think), but 
that He would come again soon — before that generation passed 
away — to confound his enemies, and establish his kingdom in 
righteousness. And, What would be signs of the end of the 



Judas. 389 

world ? How nearly or remotely they connected this last ques- 
tion with the preceding, we do not know ; and probably their 
ideas on the subject, and, indeed, on all these subjects, were as 
indistinct as is our own apprehension of their meaning. Our 
Lord's answer to these questions was framed to afford them all the 
information needful to them, or useful for their guidance, but 
little to gratify a vague curiosity. Neither did He answer their 
questions categorically, but so intermingled his replies on each 
hand, that it required after-knowledge and spiritual experience 
to discriminate more than what was actually needful for their 
safety and warning to know. We can now distinguish that He 
spoke of his coming, not personally, but by the fulfilment of 
his predictions concerning Jerusalem, and for the final uproot- 
ing of that theocracy which had become obstructive to the 
progress of the Gospel ; and again of his final coming to judge 
the world, of which also they inquired. Much that our Lord 
said might be applicable to both these great events — both these 
" comings," both being in fact comings to judgment ; but to- 
wards the close, his language grew more distinctly applicable 
to his final coming to judge the world. He declined, however, 
to give information respecting times, on the ground that these 
were secrets of God, and that it was more for their profit that 
they should be kept in a state of wakeful expectancy at all 
times, than that they should know the days and the hours. 

The general subject, and the considerations connected with 
it, our Lord then proceeded to illustrate by the parables of the 
Talents and the Ten Virgins, and closed with a vivid descrip- 
tion of the scenes of the last judgment. 



THIRTY-NINTH WEEK— MONDAY. 

JUDAS. 

MATT. XXVI. 1-16 ; MARK XVI.. 1-11 *, LUKE XXII. 1-6 ; 

JOHN XII. 2-8. 

The evening of the day of which the incidents were yester- 
day recorded — Wednesday evening by our mode of computa^ 






390 THIRTY-NINTH WEEK MONDAY. 

tion, Thursday evening by that of the Jews — was spent very 
differently by the enemies of Christ in Jerusalem, and by him- 
self and his friends at Bethany. 

At this place a supper was prepared for him in the house of 
Simon the leper — that is, perhaps, one who had been a leper, 
and had probably been healed by Jesus. Lazarus was among 
those who sat at meat ; and we may take notice of this as evi- 
dence that there was nothing merely illusive or unreal, as some 
have alleged, in his being raised from the dead, seeing that, 
some weeks after that great event, he takes part in a social 
meal. This is perhaps marked by the evangelist for that rea- 
son, and may be compared with our Lord's command for food 
to be given to the damsel He raised from the dead, and with 
his own participation of food after his own resurrection. This 
is the last we hear of Lazarus in the gospels ; but there are 
some traditions concerning him, to which we are at liberty to 
give what credence we see fit. One of them is, that he was 
thirty years old when raised from the dead, and that he survived 
thirty years more. Another is, that the first question he asked 
our Lord after leaving the tomb was, whether he was to die again, 
and being answered in the affirmative, he never smiled more. 

His sisters were also there, though not at the table. The 
fact that the good, stirring Martha appears in her favorite 
character of housewife, having charge of the preparations for, 
and attendance at supper, taken with the presence of all the 
family, may suggest that there was some near connection be- 
tween them and Simon. Many conjectures have been offered 
on this point, but it seems to us likely that the entertainment 
was really given by Lazarus and his sisters, the neighboring 
house of their friend and relative Simon being borrowed for 
the occasion, their own being under repair, or having no room 
large enough for the entertainment of so considerable a party. 
Or, as just occurs to us, Simon may have recently become a 
leper, and being, as such, obliged to withdraw from the town, 
had left his house vacant, under the charge of Lazarus and his 
sisters, who made use of it on this occasion. If Simon himself 
gave the entertainment, or took a leading part in it, it would 



JUDAS. 39 X 

have been more direct to say so, than that the entertainment 
was given in his house. Mary took advantage of this occasion 
to signalize her devotion to her Lord, and her reverence for his 
person, by bestowing upon his head and his feet the contents 
of a vessel of costly perfumed oil, bending over him as she did 
so, and then kneeling down to wipe his feet with her hair. 
This perfumed oil was of a very costly kind, worth about eight 
pounds of our money, and had probably been purchased for 
the occasion. It was an anointing fit for kings, and it is not 
unlikely that Mary connected some ideas of the approaching 
assumption of regal honors with this act. In any case, the 
peculiar odor of this perfume, which instantly pervaded all the 
house, disclosed its quality and cost. Some of the disciples 
were not unnaturally distressed at this lavish expenditure of 
that, the worth of which would have given food to many poor 
persons, and was in fact equal to the year's wages of a labor- 
ing man. But one of them was roused to loudly-expressed 
indignation. " Why," he exclaimed, " why was not this oint- 
ment sold for three hundred pence (denarii), and given to the 
poor ?" This was Judas Iscariot ; and the evangelist throws 
light upon the special intensity of his vexation by the fact, that 
he was the treasurer of the party, having charge of the little 
fund from which their simple wants were supplied, and which 
furnished the means of charity to the poor. John also flatly 
charges him with making wrongful appropriations of this 
common fund to his own private uses ; so that it was very im- 
portant to him that all generous acts of his Lord's friends 
should take the form of money, to go into the purse of which 
he was the unworthy bearer ; and to that purse certainly the 
worth of the oil would have been a very acceptable contribu- 
tion. Avarice is thus, we perceive, the characteristic of Judas' 
mind, which one who knew him, and had been long his com- 
panion, places prominently before us. And whatever else, 
therefore, we find in this man's dark mind, covetousness must be 
taken as its most distinguishing characteristic, for we certainly 
have no right to suppose that we know Judas or can understand 
him better than John did. 



392 THIRTY-NINTH WEEK MONDAY. 

Our Lord vindicated this act of Mary, and, indeed, com- 
mended it. He perceived and appreciated in Mary that dis- 
position which is ever ready to make large sacrifices for love ; 
and, always meditating upon his own death, the more intently 
as the time was so close at hand, He said, that " He had this 
night received, not a regal anointing, hut an anticipatory 
anointing for the tomb — an embalming such as the dead re- 
ceived—a consecration to death." — " The poor," he added, " ye 
have always with you, but Me ye have not always," meaning 
that there are certain offices of love whieh can be rendered 
only upon extraordinary occasions, and which are therefore not 
to be estimated by the common standards of judgment. These 
ought to be done, and the others not neglected. 

Judas, who expected that his Master would have supported 
his view of the case, became gloomy and exasperated at this 
rebuff; and as it is probable that, although with yearnings for 
good, he had joined Christ mainly with views of high advance- 
ment and great temporal gain in the kingdom He was about 
to establish, he was not the less vexed by these reiterated inti- 
mations of approaching death, which became but too probable 
from the aspect of affairs, and from our Lord's having declined 
so manjr recent opportunities of meeting the hopes and expec- 
tations of the people. As he moodily pondered these things, 
" Satan entered into Judas," in the shape of a thought, that it 
was useless to serve such a Master any longer ; it might be 
well to quit Him while there was time to do so, for his fol- 
lowers could hardly escape scathless from the dangers which 
He declared to be impending over himself; and, indeed, what 
had He lately been holding out to them but prospects of per- 
secution, trial, and martyrdom ? This did not suit Judas. And 
since Jesus had made up his mind to perish, and was certain 
to do so if He persisted in his present views, why might not 
he make some gain of the business ? It was well known the 
Sanhedrim was anxious to find an opportunity of seizing Jesus 
without danger of public tumult ; such an opportunity this 
man's acquaintance with his Master's resorts would enable him 
to give ; and he might expect a liberal reward for this service 



Judas. 393 

to those who were, after all, the constituted authorities, who 
had a right to inquire into such matters, and to whom, as a 
good Jew and a good citizen, his services were due. 

There has grown up in these latter days a tendency, which' 
pervades much of our literature, to obscure the barriers of vice 
and virtue, of nobleness and villainy — to make out that the 
foulest crimes and lowest vices are, in the same man, consistent 
with high intellect, tender affections, and exalted sentiments. 
The virtues of villains form the great study of our day. 
Among these villains Judas has found a place ; and there are 
not wanting those who, in the teeth of the evangelist, try to 
make it clear that he acted on pure and generous motives, and 
with the best, though, as it happened, mistaken intentions. We 
have no sympathy with this ; but still it may be hard to be- 
lieve that a man who had been chosen by Christ to the apos- 
tleship, and who had so long been in close intimacy with our 
Lord and his apostles, could have been wholly without good 
qualities. Even his ultimate repentance may be taken to show 
that he had susceptibility of truth and right, though for a time 
kept under by the iron grasp of covetousness. It is therefore 
just possible that he did deceive himself into the belief, that 
he was rendering his Master a real service by placing Him in 
a position which might compel Him then and there to take to 
himself his great power and reign. 

Meanwhile the enemies of Jesus, after the discomfiture of 
their attempts to ensnare Him by their -questions, assembled 
to consider what next should be done. It was a full meeting 
of the Sanhedrim, held in the palace of the high priest — there, 
because the temple, where this body usually met, was not open 
to the courts at night. The result seems to have been, that it 
was still impossible to take Him publicly in the temple, because 
it remained at least doubtful which side the people would take, 
and the attempt was certain to breed some kind of tumult, 
which would hardly fail to bring down upon them the Roman 
garrison (always present during the Passover), who would prob- 
ably, after their manner, smite right and left, and defile the 
sacred courts with blood, without regard to the cause or cir- 

17* 



394 THIRTY-NINTH WEEK MONDAY. 

eurnstanees. If, then, He were apprehended publicly, it could 
not be till after the festival, when the crowds from the prov- 
inces had taken their departure. But Jesus himself might then 
depart also, as He had done formerly. It was therefore de- 
sirable to obtain possession of his person privately by some 
craft or contrivance. " They knew that He left the city every 
evening, sometimes for Bethany, sometimes for places in the 
immediate neighborhood. There was small hope, therefore, 
of surprising Him at night, unless under the guidance of one 
who knew where to find Him, and able to identify Him in the 
night from the followers who were always with Him. Among 
these followers, so devoted to Him, it was little likely that such 
a traitor should be found. But while they were debating the 
matter, the very man they wanted appeared, and made a volun- 
tary offer of his services to betray his Master to them. His 
question was blunt and characteristic, agreeing with the worst 
interpretations of his conduct and motives — " What will you 
give ?ne, and I will deliver Him unto you V They at length 
agreed for thirty pieces of silver — the very sum which had, 
centuries before, been indicated by a prophet. (Zech. xi. 12.) 
It has been urged that the smalluess of the reward shows that 
Judas was not wholly actuated by avaricious motives. But it 
is to be remembered, that although the crime was great, the 
service was small in itself, and might be rendered by some spy 
hired by them, though not so well as by Him. The bribe is 
also not so small as it seems to us. If shekels, as seems to 
have been the case, it was equal to about 75s., or half the 
value of the ointment, the " waste" of which had stirred him 
so deeply. It was also equal to five months' wages of a hus- 
bandman, and, taking such wages for a standard of relative 
value (the wages of our husbandmen being about thrice as 
much), this sum would in actual value be equal to little less 
than £10 with us. 

This being settled, Judas lay watchful for any opportunity 
that might offer of betraying his Master in the absence of the 
multitude. 



THE SUPPER AND THE AGONY. 395 



THIRTY-NINTH WEEK— TUESDAY. 

THE SUPPER AND THE AGONY. 

matt. xxvi. 17-46; mark xiv. 12-42; luke xxii. 7-46 • 

JOHN XIII. 1 XVIII. 1. 

The day of Thursday was spent by our Lord at Bethany ; 
but the apostles were sent to Jerusalem to engage an apart- 
ment where the Passover might be eaten in the evening, and 
to prepare a lamb for the occasion. 

When the evening was come, Jesus also repaired to Jerusa- 
lem ; and, having joined the apostles, sat down with them to 
the sacred meal, which had been prepared, and which He de- 
signed to render more sacred and more memorable. 

When they were seated, but before the commencement of 
Aie repast, Jesus perceived that the apostles, with their still 
inveterate infatuation, were discussing among themselves which 
of them should be the greatest in his approaching kingdom. 
Upon this, He arose from table, and laying aside his upper 
garment, as servants used to do when rendering the same 
service to their masters, He took a basin of water and a towel, 
and proceeded to wash the disciples' feet ; designing thus to 
impress upon their minds, in a manner not to be obliterated, 
a lesson and an example of that lowliness of mind which had 
distinguished his own career, and should characterize theirs. 
They did not at first apprehend his object, and were doubtless 
much distressed that their reverend Master should thus demean 
himself; but yielding in child-like submission to his will, they 
offered no resistance. None did but Peter ; who, when his 
turn came, gave way to his excitable temper, and absolutely 
refused that his Master should render this servile office to him. 
Jesus told him that this act had a meaning which he would 
understand afterwards. Why not tell him at once ? Because, 
as Crysostom suggests, had Christ told Peter as a reason for 
that act, that He wished to teach him humility, the fiery dis- 
ciple would not have been satisfied with it, but would have 



#96 THIRTY-NINTH WEEK TUESDAY. 

answered, "I can learn humility without having my feet 
washed." As it was, he was not able to humble the natural 
feelings in a child-like manner under that expression of his 
Lord's will. Jesus, therefore, as a Master who knew well how 
to rule his own house, said to him, " If I wash thee not, thou 
hast no part with Me." Whereupon the always ardent apostle 
flies at once to the opposite extreme, and knows no limit to 
his obedience — " Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands 
and my head." Jesus told him this was not needful; and 
then proceeded to impress upon them, that if He, whom they 
rightly looked up to as their Lord and Master, had thus per- 
formed the part of a servant towards them, they ought to be 
servants in love to each other, without such grievous and worldly 
aspirings after distinctions and superiorities over one another. 

The supper then commenced, and was celebrated in the 
usual manner, which we need not explain ; but it was marked 
towards the close by an incident which requires our attention. 
It is clear that the mournful condition of his lost disciple 
hovered continually before the mind of the Redeemer. So, 
after washing the disciples' feet, He said, " Ye are clean, but 
not all." Farther on, when He was giving high promises to 
his disciples, He intimated his knowledge that there was one 
to whom such promises gave no pleasure. Nevertheless, He 
knew those whom He had chosen to be his apostles. He had 
not selected this one to be of their number through any error 
or oversight, but because it was so determined in the Divine 
counsels ; and He quoted Psalm xli. 9 — " He that eateth bread 
with Me, hath lifted up his heel against Me ;" at which the 
heart of the traitor must have quaked, if he were not yet wholly 
hardened. But he was quite hardened now. It was not a 
feeling of aroused indignation which the heavenly and affec- 
tionate Saviour manifests towards the traitor ; it is that of an 
an affectionate sorrow, which constantly renews the attempts 
to make a saving impression upon a depraved heart. It might 
have been expected that as soon as Judas perceived his sin was 
known to his Master, he would have cast himself at his feet, 
confessing all and imploring his forgiveness. But he was too 



THE SUPPER AND THE AGONY. 397 

far gone in evi] purposes and thoughts for that. Perceiving 
this, and finding that even the last great proof of humble love 
— the washing his feet — had made no impression upon him 
his presence became oppressive to our Lord in that solemn 
hour, and He wished him to withdraw from the circle of those 
who loved and were beloved by Him. He now, therefore, in 
the most distinct manner, gave utterance to the thought that 
there was one in that holy and beloved circle who would prove 
a traitor to Him. But the moment was so solemn, and their 
reverence for their Lord so great, that they dared not ask Him 
to name the man. Presently, however, a strong desire urged 
the impulsive Peter to make the inquiry. He did not, how- 
ever, like to do so aloud, and was probably led to put the 
question in an undertone. He, therefore, signalled John, whose 
place at table was next below Jesus, and who, therefore, re- 
clined in such a manner that his head lay toward the breast 
of his Master. John whispered, "Who is it, Lord?" And 
the answer, probably in the same undertone, was, " He to whom 
I shall give a sop, when I have dipped it." Here we must 
understand that, after the second cup of wine at the p£ischal 
feast, the father of the family took a piece of unleavened bread, 
broke it into pieces, and gave a bit to each of those present, 
commonly dipping it first in the broth. Our Lord took one 
of these morsels, as he said these words, and, dipping it in the 
dish, gave it to Judas. It is doubtful if any of the apostles, 
except John, and perhaps Peter, understood this indication, 
for the act itself was proper to the occasion, and the words 
were, probably, audible only to John, to whom they were 
addressed. But Judas had, doubtless, observed and construed 
these successive movements, and deeming himself marked out 
to the other apostles, his heart became filled with wrath; and 
fancying that now at last he had some justification for his 
conduct, he cast all remorseful thoughts to the winds, and 
became fixed in his fell and traitorous purpose. Observing 
ihat this was the man's state of mind, Jesus could no longer 
endure his presence. He wished to declare to his beloved 
ones the anguish he felt at parting with them, to comfort them 



398 THIRTY-NINTH WEEK TUESDAY. 

in that sad prospect, and to declare to them the great blessings 
which his death would work out for the race of man. This 
He could not do in the presence of one whose contemplated 
act was to be the proximate cause of all this anguish, and 
whose heart was alien from his and theirs. He therefore told 
him to depart. " That thou doest, do quickly ;" words which 
the traitor, and John and Peter, could construe aright, but 
from which the other apostles, still in their simple-mindedness, 
concluded only that he had been sent to make some farther 
preparations for the festival, or to take some alms to the poor. 
Even Peter and John may not have supposed that the treasons 
of Judas were so near at hand. 

When he was gone, Jesus began to speak of his departure ; 
and it appears that the apostles still thought that it could at 
worst be only a temporary removal of some kind, from which 
He would return in glory. Or perhaps they may have supposed 
no more than that, to escape from treachery, He meant to with- 
draw for a time to some distant part of the country. Of his 
removal by death they could not realize the idea. When, 
therefore, He said, " Whither I go ye cannot come," Peter 
asked with amazement, " Whither goest Thou ?" And when 
Jesus answered that He went whither he could not follow 
Him then, though he might thereafter, Peter, gathering from 
this only that some danger attended his removal, which He 
cared not that his friends should share, exclaimed, with his 
usual impetuosity, " Why cannot I follow Thee now ? I will 
lay down my life for thy sake." And no doubt he was sincere. 
But Jesus knew him better far than he was known to himself. 
He looked through his soul, and saw that these strong express- 
ions sprang more from a swell of generous feeling than from 
a will firmly grounded. He therefore warned him to look well 
to his own heart, and told him that he would that day, that 
very night, before the second crowing of the cock, fall deeply, 
but only to rise again, stronger, wiser, better and fitter for all 
work in the service of his Master. 

Jesus then proceeded to institute the new festival to be held 
in remembrance of Him, in which the broken bread was to re- 



THE SUPPER AND THE AGONI. 399 

present his body, given to death and the grave for them ; and 
the wine, his blood, " shed for many, for the remission of sins.'* 

After this, our Lord commenced that touching and sublime 
discourse which occupies three chapters of St. John's gospel, 
the purport of which has been already indicated, and which 
closes with that prayer for his disciples, and for those who 
through their labors should believe on his name — that is, for 
the church in all ages, that the might be " one in Him." He 
knew doubtless that they would not be so entirely one in each 
other's view as He desired ; He therefore made it the essential 
point that they should be one in Him ; and such, it is a hap- 
piness to think, the greater part of them substantially are, 
notwithstanding their too frequently foreign aspect to each other. 

Late at night our Lord left the city with the disciples, but 
proceeded no further than the Mount of Olives, near the base 
of which there was an olive farm called Gethsemane, belonging 
probably to a disciple of Jesus, and to which our Lord was in 
the habit of repairing when He did not mean to go to Bethany. 
Scarcely had our Lord arrived here, than He withdrew into 
the deepest solitudes of the plantation. Most of the disciples 
seem to have remained at the house with the friendly host, 
and only three of them, Peter, James, and John, the same who 
were present at the transfiguration, went with Him, and, some- 
what apart, became witnesses to the mighty struggle of his 
soul. For it was here that He endured, shaded by the over- 
hanging olives from the pale light of the moon, that great 
agony which in the chilly night wrung from his brow the per- 
spiration that fell "like great drops of blood" to the ground, 
meaning, probably, not that the perspiration was blood, or 
was mixed with blood, but that it gathered and fell in great 
clammy drops like those of blood. In repeated prayer to the 
Father, He asked that " this cup" might pass from Him ; yet 
He always added, "Not my will, but thine be done." At 
length an angel from heaven appeared to comfort Him, and 
from that heavenly sustainment He arose firm and calm, to 
meet his doom. 

We may reverently ask— -What was it that moved Him so 



*00 THIRTY-NINTH WEEK TUESDAY. 

deeply ? What cup was that which He desired might pasa 
from Him ? Is it possible that, as the time drew near, H« 
shrank from that suffering and death, which He had always 
contemplated as the inevitable close of his career, — that in 
this dread hour be faltered in the great task of delivering man 
which He had undertaken ? This will seem to many impos- 
sible, especially when they reflect that many martyrs and greal 
men have, under the faith and solace of a good cause, yielded 
up their bodies to torture and to death without dismay, saying 

" Resting in the glorious hope 
To be at last restored, 
Yield we now our bodies up 
To earthquake, fire, and sword." 

But we must remember that the case was very different with 
Him and with them. They had but to die ; but there was 
much more for Him to do. We have seen that He was capa- 
ble of being "tempted like as we are are," and we need not 
repeat the considerations advanced in connection with his 
temptation in the wilderness. But it was then shown that this, 
which our Lord now endured iu the garden, was another temp- 
tation, in which Satan, knowing it was the last time, put forth 
all his strength, and tried Him more severely. " The cup" 
must have been the scenes of suffering that lay before Him. 
It is hard to see what else it could have been ; and the sup- 
plication to be excused from drinking it, shows that the temp- 
tation lay in this, that the suggestion now was not, as formerly, 
that He should exalt himself to earthly honor, but simply 
that He should waive the duty He had undertaken, if it were 
possible. The " agony," which word means wrestling, striving, 
struggle, lay not so much, we apprehend, in the dread of what 
lay before Him, as in the strong-handed conflict against the 
suggestion ; and the utmost to which He could for a moment 
be brought, was to pray that if there could possibly be found 
any other way for man's deliverance, He might be released 
from his obligation ; but if not, God's will be done. And the 
Father did manifest his will by the angel, who came, not to 



THE SUPPER AND THE AGONY. 401 

relieve Him from that cup, but to give Him strength to drink 
it, even to the dregs. 

One who has written well on this subject says : " I have 
no hesitation in believing that He was here put upon the trial 
of his obedience. It was the purpose of God to submit the 
obedience of Jesus to a severe ordeal, in order that, like gold 
tried in the furnace, it might be an act of perfect and illustri 
ous virtue ; and for this end He permitted Him to be assailed 
by the fiercest temptations to disobey his will and refuse tin- 
appointed cup. In pursuance of this purpose the mind of 
Jesus was left to pass under a dark cloud, his views lost their 
clearness, the Father's will seemed shrouded in obscurity, the 
cross appeared in tenfold horror, and nature was left to indulge 
her feelings and put forth her reluctance." 

The objection which naturally arises to this, from the mir 
shaken countenance with which righteous men have looked 
upon death in its most terrible aspects, is well met by the same 
writer. " The pious and holy man has not had a world's sal- 
vation laid upon him ; he has not been required to be abso- 
lutely perfect before God ; he has known that if he sinned 
there was an advocate and a ransom for him. But nothing of 
this consolation could be presented to the mind of Jesus. He 
knew that He must die, as He had lived, without sin ; but if 
the extremity of suffering should so far prevail as to provoke 
Him into impatience, or murmuring, or into a desire for re- 
venge, this would be sin ; and if He sinned all would be lost, 
for there was no other Saviour. In such considerations may 
probably be found the remote source of the agonies and fears, 
which deepened the gloom of that dreadful night."* 

* Dr. Lewis Meyer, in the American Biblical Repository for 1841. 



402 



THIRTY-NINTH WEEK — WEDNESDAY. 



THIRTY-NINTH WEEK— WEDNESDAY. 

THE JEWISH TRIAL. 

matt. xxvi. 47-75 ; mark xiv. 43-65 ; luke xxii. 47-71 ; 
john xviii. 2-27. 

By the time that our Lord arose victorious over this griev- 
ous trial, his enemies, led on by Judas, appeared in the garden. 
They came in force, probably apprehensive of resistance from 
the disciples, or of some attempt at rescue by the way. The 
priests had not only brought some of the Levites who served 
in the temple, and who acted as official attendants and appari- 
tors of the Sanhedrim ; but a company of Roman soldiers, ob- 
tained probably rather to sustain the others in case of any at- 
tempt at resistance or rescue, than to take any active part in 
the proceedings ; and the force was not only well armed, but 
provided with lights — both torches of pitch, or wax, or resin- 





ous wood, and lanterns in which oil was burning. It was in- 
deed the full of the moon, but the moon may have been over- 
cast, or it was feared that He whom they sought might escape 
by passing away under the shade of the trees. 

On entering, Judas went before them, and went straight up 
to his Master, giving Him the kiss usual between friends who 
met again after some time of absence. This was the sign 






THE JEWISH TRIAL. 403 

which he had appointed for the identification of Jesus, who well 
understood its real purport, yet wishing to recall him to a con- 
sciousness of his crime, said, "Friend, wherefore art thou 
come V and then, after a moment's pause, " Judas, betrayest 
thou the Son of man with a kiss ?" If the man had a heart, 
these words must have smote it, — and there is reason, from 
what afterwards happened, to think that they did. 

Jesus then, anxious to shield his disciples, advanced to the 
approaching force, and said, " Whom seek ye ?" They an- 
swered, " Jesus of Nazareth." He said, " I am He ;" at which 
word, instead of advancing to seize Him, they drew so hastily 
back, that many of them fell to the ground. What ailed 
them ? If we look back to the inability of the officers, sent by 
the Sanhedrim to apprehend Him in the Temple, to fulfil their 
office, overawed by his presence and his words, the answer 
is easily found. The same officers, being attendants in the 
Sanhedrim, were doubtless in the foremost body now ; and 
they had received themselves, and imparted to their fellows, 
exalted ideas of his dignity and power. Conscience taught 
them that they were engaged in an evil work. And thus, 
when Jesus — the single object of all this formidable array — 
stood forth, in the serene and heavenly dignity of One whose 
voice, as they knew, the dead had heard, and at whose rebuke 
the traffickers had fled the temple, they were appalled, and 
for the moment hesitated. It is indeed quite possible, that but 
for the presence of the Roman soldiers, who shared not these 
impressions, they would have returned to the city without their 
prisoner. But Jesus thought not to avail himself of their con- 
fusion. He was willing ; and they had no power over Him 
but that which his will gave. He therefore again asked the 
same question, and, on receiving the same answer, desired 
them, since their orders were only to take himself, to let the 
disciples depart unmolested. The military, perceiving how 
backward in the discharge of their office were those to whom 
it had been mainly intrusted, now thrust them aside, and them- 
selves seized Jesus, and bound Him, as was the custom with 
all prisoners at their apprehension, whatever their offence. 



1:04 THIRTY-NINTH WEEK WEDNESDAY. 

They then, however, put Him into the charge of the Jewish 
officers, whose prisoner He was. 

On beholding this treatment of their revered Master, the dis- 
ciples became strongly excited, and one of them drew a sword, 
and smote at one of the most forward of the men, cutting ofF 
his right ear. And to whom would any one ascribe this rash 
and hasty act ? No one who has read these pages would hesi- 
tate a moment to say that it was Peter ; and Peter it was — 
who seemed now ready, as he had said, to die for his Master. 
To screen Peter from the consequences of this rash act, and to 
favor his escape, as well as to show that He went not as a cap- 
tive of the sword, and that no blood should be lost on his ac- 
count, He begged a moment's pause, while He healed the 
man's ear. His name was Malchus, and he was known as a 
servant of the high-priest. Thus the last act of healing by our 
Lord was performed in favor of one who had been the most 
active among his enemies. He was then led away ; and, as 
He had a few hours before predicted, all the disciples forsook 
Him and fled. Two of them, however, turned, and followed 
at a safe distance to watch the result. One of them was Peter, 
the other John. They observed that their Lord was taken to 
the palace of Annas " the high-priest." The actual high-priest 
at the time was Caiaphas ; but this Annas had been high- 
priest, and as such enjoyed the title by courtesy. Being also 
a man of great wealth and influence, and of active habits, he 
took upon him much of the business of that high office, as a 
sort of assessor to, or substitute for, Caiaphas, who was his son- 
in-law. Hence the evangelist describes them both as " high- 
priests" (Luke iii. 2), as they were in fact. We do not know, 
however, why our Lord should have been first taken to the 
house of Annas, unless that probably he took a prominent part 
in the judicial business of the office, and that his house may 
have been nearer than that of Caiaphas. Or it may be that 
the officers merely took their prisoner there to apprise him that 
Jesus had been captured, and ask his further instructions. He 
directed that dui* Lord should be taken to the palace of 
Caiaphas. 



THE JEWISH TRIAL. 405 

It happened that John was known to the household of the 
high-priest, and of course known as a disciple of Jesus. He 
found ready admittance to the interior ; and presently, know- 
ing that Peter was lingering about the door, he went and 
spoke " to her that kept the door," and obtained leave from 
her to introduce his friend. It seems strange to find a woman 
acting as porteress to a great mansion. This custom has not 
been preserved in the East, but it existed among the Jews,* 
and in some degree among the Greeks and Romans. The 
friends were now in the outer-court of the palace, where a 
number of servants and Levitical officers were waiting, and the 
night being cold, they had a charcoal fire, around which they 
gathered to warm themselves. Peter joined them and warmed 
himself at the fire, trying to assume the manner of an uncon- 
cerned spectator. He could see, if not hear, all that passed in 
the large open room to which Jesus was brought, and in which 
his examination took place. What became of John we know 
not — but it is open to inference that he did not remain here ; 
but, being acquainted with the premises and the people, went 
up nearer, so as to see and hear more clearly all that passed. 
But it fared ill with Peter at the fire. His late confidence was 
now exchanged for timid caution, and with his anxiety for his 
Lord, a strong apprehension of compromising himself was 
mingled. The woman who had let him in guessed, perhaps 
from his connection with John, that he was one of the disciples 
of Jesus, and put the question to him as he stood there in the 
midst of dangerous persons. He denied this stoutly ; but per- 
ceiving that he was still regarded with distrust, he withdrew 
from the fire, and went out into the vestibule, leading to the 
outer door. The cock then crew, but in the excitement of the 
moment the warning sound fell blank upon his ear. Presently 
another woman noticed him, and began to say to those who 
stood by that " this was one of them." Seriously alarmed at 
this, he again denied the charge. It may excite surprise that 
the women should be thus forward in suspecting him. But 
Jesus had been seen and heard by multitudes in the city, with 
* See another instance in Acts xii. 13. 



406 THIRTY-NINTH WEEK WEDNESDAY. 

Peter and the other apostles in attendance upon Him ■, and aa 
women observe individuals more narrowly than men, his coun- 
tenance had left an impression upon their minds in connection 
with that of Jesus. Still, the difference of light sufficed to pre- 
vent the recollection from being quite determinate, or more 
than a strong impression. But Peter now thought it better to 
mix boldly with the people in the court, around the fire, than 
to excite suspicion by lurking about. He therefore returned 
thither, and entered into the conversation that was going on. 
At length one that stood by — perhaps one who had been in 
the garden and had witnessed his assault upon Malchus, for he 
is said to have been a relative of that man, said, " Surely thou 
art one of them ;" and in corroboration added that his accent 
and mode of speech clearly showed him to be a Galilsean. In 
fact, we know from Jewish authorities that the rough provincial 
accent of the Galilasans was very distinguishable from that of 
the metropolis, and was, in fact, a subject with which the Jer- 
usalemites often made themselves merry. Peter, now seriously 
frightened, denied the charge with great earnestness, confirm- 
ing the denial with an oath, and declaring that he knew nothing 
whatever of the man of whom they spoke. The word had 
scarcely left his mouth when the cock again crew, and at the 
same moment Jesus " turned and looked upon Peter." That 
sad look went instantly to his heart ; and, leaving the place, he 
sought some spot apart, where he might reason freely over his 
sin, and pour forth the hot tears of shame and grief. 

On the arrival of Jesus, the high-priest seems to have sent 
out to call an early meeting of the Sanhedrim at his palace. 
The members of that body were probably in bed, and to get 
them together for an extraordinary meeting, must have taken 
some time. Meanwhile the high-priest himself subjected the 
prisoner to a preliminary examination. He asked Him con- 
cerning his doctrine. But Jesus said He had always taught 
publicly ; nothing had been done in secret, and the tenor of 
his teaching could easily be ascertained from those who had 
heard Him. And so, throughout, He refuses to stand upon his 
defence, or to furnish materials which might be perversely 



THE JEWISH TRIAL. 407 

used to his own conviction, by those who had pre-determined on 
his destruction. One of the officers who stood by chose to 
consider the answer disrespectful to the high-priest, and smote 
Jesus on the mouth. This practice is still retained in some 
parts of the East, especially Persia, being usually inflicted with 
the heel of a shoe, which inflicts a very severe blow, usually 
cutting the lips, and sometimes breaking the teeth and filling 
the mouth with blood. This, however, was not so severe, being 
inflicted with the palm of the hand. 

Caiaphas seems to have withdrawn after this to his private 
apartments till the meeting of the council, which did not take 
place till the morning broke. 

Though the council had pre-determined on the death of 
Jesus, they, out of regard to their character, and the customs 
of the court, which could not easily be dispensed with, felt the 
necessity of observing some show of legal procedure. The 
fundamental rule of evidence was, that no man could be capitally 
convicted but on the evidence of two independent witnesses for 
every essential fact. Now, although there were plenty of wit- 
nesses willing to testify to anything, no two could be found 
whose testimony could be made to tally in the degree the law 
required. The nearest point that could be reached, was when 
two witnesses were found to agree tolerably in a very distorted 
and even absurd version of his declaration made on his first 
ministerial visit to Jerusalem. He had said, " Destroy this 
temple (meaning the temple of his body), and I will raise it 
up in three days ;" but they declared, " We heard Him say, I 
will destroy this temple that is made with hands, and within 
three days will build another made without hands." This 
was certainly, as the evangelist says, false evidence ; and after 
all, there was no law which could make this declaration, even 
as thus misreported, a capital offence. Jesus meanwhile had 
not condescended to put himself upon his defence. He did 
not cross-examine the witnesses ; He did not expose their mis- 
representations ; He did not vindicate his character or state- 
ment. He asked nothing ; He explained nothing. " He was 



408 THIRTY-NINTH WEEK WEDNESDAY. 

as a lamb dumb before the shearers ; and He opened not his 
mouth." 

Aggravated at this imperturbable silence, and seeing that 
there was no evidence on which a conviction could be founded, 
unless it might be drawn from himself, the high-priest called 
his attention to the evidence, and asked why He did not answer 
to it. No reply was given. On this Caiaphas became desperate, 
and adopted a resource which our own rules of evidence would 
declare most infamous, and which was also wholly adverse to 
the first principles of Mosaic jurisprudence, and the like of 
which occurs in no circumstance of Hebrew history. It was 
that of putting the prisoner upon his oath to answer questions, 
framed for his own crimination. It is noticeable that the con- 
tinental commentators take little if any notice of this, as their 
own legal practice allows every advantage to be taken, for the 
purpose of extorting confessions or fatal admissions from a 
criminal. The high-priest could not, indeed, make Jesus take 
an oath, but he could lay Him under an equivalent constraint, 
which would compel any man to speak, and a religious man 
to speak truly. He said, " I adjure Thee, by the living God, 
that Thou tell me whether Thou be the Christ, the Son of God." 
Thus adjured, Jesus could not but speak ; and, indeed, the sat- 
isfaction of his followers required, that He should take the op- 
portunity of declaring himself plainly on this point, before the 
highest ecclesiastical tribunal of his country. He therefore 
answered decidedly in the affirmative. 

Even this was not sufficient for their purpose ; for it required 
evidence to show that He was not what He thus claimed to be» 
before they could convict Him ; and certainly the evidence of 
his mighty works went all the other way. But He further 
expressed himself, so as to lead them to see that He claimed 
even a higher quality than they ascribed to the Messiah. On 
hearing which, there was a general exclamation, " Art Thou, 
then, the Son of God ?" And on his answer that He was, the 
high-priest, though joyful at having obtained what he considered 
conclusive evidence, rent his clothes as an expression of grief 
and consternation, and declared that no further evidence could 



THE ROMAN TRIAL. 409 

be needful after this shocking blasphemy from the prisoner's 
own mouth. The rest were of the same opinion, and declared 
Him "guilty of death." 

He was then abandoned to the low and ribald treatment of 

the brutal fellows in the court below. Some spat in his face 

the last and most degrading of insults to an Oriental ; while 
others in derision of his prophetic powers, covered his eyes, and 
then striking Him, asked Him to tell who it was that smote 
Him. 



THIRTY-NINTH WEEK— THURSDAY. 

THE ROMAN TRIAL. 
MATT. XXVII. 1-31; MARK XV. 1-20 J LUKE XXIII. 1-25 J 

john xviii. 28 — xix. 16. 

The Sanhedrim had pronounced sentence of death against 
Jesus ; but the power of life and death having been taken from 
them, the sentence they had given could not be executed with- 
out the sanction of the Roman governor. Here they were in 
a difficulty. The offence was a religious one — that of blas- 
phemy. If the governor took the trouble to inquire into it, there 
would be a difficulty in making a heathen understand it, and 
he might be reluctant to sanction the capital punishment of 
an offence that might seem to him trivial. On the other hand, 
if with polite readiness he gave his formal sanction to the sen- 
tence passed on a criminal they had tried, he would give him 
back to them for punishment. In that case he would be 
stoned ; but this was not desirable to them, as it might be 
doubted whether the populace were so far set against Him, 
that their enthusiasm might not easily be rekindled in his favor, 
in which case the feeble force at their disposal would be quite 
inadequate to ensure the execution of the sentence, and their 
victim might yet escape from their hands. It was, therefore, 
«n their view highly desirable, that the case should be so pre- 
sented to the view of the governor, as should ensure his ear- 

vol. in. 18 



410 THIRTY-NINTH WEEK THURSDAY. 

nest attention to it, and throw upon the Romans the odium 
of the deed, and its actual execution. 

The Roman government in Judea was very jealous in the 
prosecution to death of all offences against the public peace, 
and the power of Rome ; and hence those who led or took part 
in popular commotions, or who advanced pretensions or doc- 
trines adverse to its predominance, or who in any way opposed 
themselves to its authority, were most rigorously handled,* 
and especially by Pilate, the existing governor, who had very 
lately performed most rigorous executions upon persons whose 
offences had been of this nature. 

The Sanhedrim, therefore, concluded most dishonestly tt 
shift their ground, and to present to Pilate, as a political offender, 
dangerous to Rome (whose power at the same time they them- 
selves most bitterly detested), Him whom they had themselves 
convicted of a religious offence. 

It was now morning, and the Sanhedrim, while it adjourned 
to its own proper court in the temple, sent a deputation of 
their body to bring the case before Pilate, to whom also the 
prisoner was at the same time sent in bonds. 

The usual abode of the Roman governor was at Csesarea 
Palaestina, but he usually came over to Jerusalem at the time 
of the Passover, with a large body of soldiers to keep the mul- 
titude in awe at that season. In Jerusalem, he held his abode 
in the palace built by the elder Herod, but was sometimes in 
the Tower of Antonia, the strong fortress commanding the 
temple. It is not certain to which of these places our Lord 
was taken, but most probably to the former. 

Arrived here, the Sanhedrists found another difficulty. They 
could not enter the house of the heathen governor, lest they 
should be defiled, and thereby rendered unfit for the further 
celebration of the Passover. There was, however, an elevated 
tesselated pavement in front of the palace, where the governor 
often set his judgment-seat when such cases occurred. Hither 
Pilate came out, when he understood that he was wanted ; the 
prisoner being, meanwhile (for better custody, perhaps) taken 
into the fore court of the palace itself among the soldiers. 



TTIE ROMAN TRIAL. 411 

It cannot be doubted that Pilate bad already beard some 
Miings concerning Jesus, and bad formed some views respecting 
Him, deeming Him a harmless enthusiast of pure character and 
■urns, very different from the demagogues of that age, and from 
whom no danger need be apprehended. He also knew enough 
of the Jewish rulers to believe that they must be acting against 
Him in this case, under whatever pretence, from some selfish 
objects. That Jesus had been taken prisoner, he must also 
have known, from having permitted them to take a number of 
the soldiers to aid in His apprehension. Upon the whole, 
therefore, he was at least impartial, with favorable leanings, if 
any, rather to the prisoner than the accusers, when he took his 
place on the judgment-seat. They seemed at first to expect 
that he would sanction their proceedings without inquiry, and 
were therefore annoyed that he evinced a disposition to go 
thoroughly into the case. When, therefore, he asked the na- 
ture of their accusation, they answered sharply, that he ought 
to conclude they would not bring any one there who was not 
a grievous offender. To this he answered with some sternness, 
that (assuming it to be some trivial offence) they might take 
and judge Him according to their own law, without troubling 
him with the case. They answered that they had no power 
to put any one to death. By this he saw the extent to which 
they desired to go, and reluctantly composed himself to hear 
their accusation. 

Whether Pilate laughed we cannot tell ; but we can tell 
that he had exceeding good reason to do so, when these beard- 
ed fathers of the Sanhedrim began with a grave face to declare 
that, out of zeal for the Roman government, they had brought 
before his tribunal " this fellow,"* whom they had found per- 
verting the nation, forbidding to give tribute to Csesar, saying 
that He himself is Christ a king Now, however ridiculous 
this charge seems to us, it was skilfully framed to compel 
Pilate to take up the matter seriously. This refusal to pay 
tribute was, as we have seen, a very critical and very popular 

* " Fellow," as some have remarked, is not expressed in the original. 
But it is rightly inserted, being understood in what is expressed. 



412 THIRTY-NINTH WEEK THURSDAY. 

question ; and although he might deride the other charge, it 
was very certain that it would fare hardly with him, if it should 
once reach the ears of the Emperor Tiberias, as it was likely to 
do, that he had refused to in\ estigate a charge of this nature, 
the mere accusation of which was all but fetal in that reign. 
Convinced, however, that it could have no really solid founda- 
tion, he went into the interior judgment-hall, and calling Jesus 
thither, plainly asked Him the question, " Art thou the King 
of the Jews." Our Lord's answer, which was to ask whether 
Pilate made this inquiry of himself, or from the suggestion of 
others, teaches us that He wished him to declare, whether his 
question referred to an external political sovereignty, or to the 
Jewish notions of a theocratic king — the Messiah. Pilate re- 
plied with some heat, but plainly enough, that he was not a 
Jew, and could not enter into Jewish questions ; and having 
thus avowed that he looked merely to the political side of the 
question, our Lord admitted that He had a kingdom, but de- 
clared that it was one not of this world. Pilate seems to have 
caught a glimpse of his meaning, but with the instinctive abhor- 
rence of the worldly-minded, he shrunk from any inquiries 
about what was not of this world, and pressed the particular 
point which was judicially before him. "Art thou a king, 
then f ' Jesus could not deny that He was ; but still expressed 
with sufficient clearness that He claimed no earthly dominion. 
"What it was, He intimated in the words, " I came into the 
world to bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the 
truth heareth my voice." Every such one, that is to say, as 
became a subject to that realm of truth in which He was King. 
There was here a sort of appeal to the conscience of Pilate him- 
self, but there was no response from within. The procurator, 
a type of the educated Roman world, especially of its higher 
classes, lost in worldly-mindedness, and conscious of no higher 
wants than those of this life, had no such sense for truth. 
" What is truth ?" was his mocking question. " Truth is but 
an empty name," he meant to say.* 

He then went out, confirmed in his first impression that 
* Neandee. 



THE ROMAN TRIAL. 413 

Jesus was simply a well-meaning religious enthusiast, innocent 
of any political offence ; and accordingly he declared to his 
accusers that he could " find no fault in Him at all." A fero- 
cious growl was the response ; and they told him that this man 
had set the whole country in an uproar, from Judea even unto 
Galilee. As they expected, Pilate caught at the name of Gali- 
lee, which had lately supplied more than one dangerous dema- 
gogue, and having ascertained that He belonged to the terri- 
tory of Herod, he concluded to get rid of this troublesome 
affair by sending the accused to the Tetrarch, whose immediate 
subject He was, and whom he might suppose better qualified 
than himself to judge in this case ; nor did it escape him that 
he would be thus enabled to show a gratifying mark of atten- 
tion to Herod, with whom he had lately been on ill terms. 
Jesus was accordingly sent to Herod, who had come to Jerusa- 
lem at the Passover. We know that the Tetrarch had long 
desired to see Him, in the hope of witnessing the performance 
of some wonder by one so renowned for his miracles. But it 
was no part of our Lord's calling to gratify an idle curiosity ; 
nor could any object be gained by declaring his doctrine to one 
so utterly worldly. He therefore performed no miracle, and 
was silent to all the questions put to Him. Herod was acute 
enough to see, however, that Jesus was not really open to any 
capital charge, and after the odium he had incurred on account 
of John the Baptist, he was not willing to add the death of 
Jesus to the number of his crimes. Yet being exasperated at 
the dignified passiveness of Jesus, he caused Him to be arrayed 
in a gorgeous purple robe (doubtless one of his own) in derision 
of his Messianic dignity, and having abandoned Him to the 
brutal mockeries of his soldiers, sent Him back to Pilate. 

Pilate was distressed to find the case turned back upon his 
hands ; and his perplexity was increased by his having mean- 
while received a message from his wife, begging him to have 
nothing to do with " that just person," for she had in the night 
suffered much in a dream concerning Him. At length a way 
of escape was presented to his troubled thoughts. It was usual, 
out of compliment to the Jews and their Passover, for the Ro- 



414 THIRTY-NINTH WEEK — THTJRSDA/. 

man governor to grant a free pardon to any one prisoner whom 
the people might name. Pilate hoped that this practice might 
be made available to deliver Jesus ; for whatever might be the 
views of the Sanhedrim, he could not doubt that when the 
question came to be referred to the people, they would decide 
for Jesus, who had stood so high in their favor — the rather, as 
the question seemed to lie between Him and a most notorious 
malefactor named Barrabas. But when the question was put 
to them, the people, worked upon by their own disappointed 
expectations and by the urgencies of the Sanhedrists, clamor- 
ously gave their voices for a robber and murderer, rather than 
for One who had so often healed their diseases — to whose 
words of warning, hope, and peace, they had so often listened, 
and before whom their triumphant hosannas were so lately 
shouted. 

This decision was final as to Barrabas ; but then Pilate asked, 
what he should do with Jesus. The hoarse answer was " Cru- 
cify Him ! crucify Him." Yet again the governor remon- 
strated, that neither he nor Herod had been able to discover 
any cause for death in Him ; and hoping to pacify them, he 
said he would chastise Him, and then release Him. But no- 
thing less than his life would now satisfy them, and the cry of 
" Crucify Him" became loud and fierce. Still Pilate did not 
despair ; but abandoned Him for the time to the cruel mercies 
of the soldiers, and they being, perhaps, incited by bribes from 
the Jewish leaders, treated Him with great harshness. The 
lictors performed their usual duty of scourging the condemned ; 
but besides this, the men, taking the hint from the purple robe 
with which Herod had invested Him, proceeded to place on 
his head a crown of thorns,* and put a reed in his hand for a 
sceptre. They then kneeled in mockery to Him, crying 
" Hail, king of the Jews !"— and then they spat upon Him, 

* There is a plant common in the East, which bears the name of 
Christ's Thorn {Zizyphus Spina Ckristi), being supposed to have sup- 
plied the materials for our Lord's thorny crown. It is very fit for tha 
purpose, the branches being soft, round, and pliant, and armed with 
small sharp spines. 



THE ROMAN TRIAL. 



415 



and, snatching the reed from his hand, smote the thorny crown 
therewith, driving the spikes into his brows. It has been the cus- 
tom of late to treat this punishment of scourging lightly. But 
it was, in fact, frightfully severe. The scourging was far more 




harsh than that in use among the Jews — which also inflicted 
no disgrace — but that of the Eomans was only inflicted upon 
slaves and foreigners. The scourge was formed of thongs 
twisted together, and in order to increase the severity of the 
lash, small pieces of bone were sometimes woven into it ; and 
the strokes were so severe as to tear and lacerate the flesh. 

The influence which our Lord had evidently by this time 
acquired over the mind of Pilate — accustomed as he was to 
witness scenes of blood, and to inflict human suffering — was nat- 
urally strenghtened by every effort he made to save Him. The 
punishment now inflicted was probably with the hope that this 
measure of satisfaction to their wild hatred would pacify the 
Jews, and enable him to drop farther proceedings. The patient 
dignity which Jesus manifested under this treatment, increased 
the interest of the procurator in his favor, and he caused Him 
to be brought forth, declaring his conviction of his innocence. 



416 THIRTI -NINTH WEEK THURSDAY. 

But when the host of priests again beheld the object of theif 
fear and hatred, their mad anger immediately broke forth anew 
into loud cries for his death. Pilate now was in his turn 
angry, and declared that he at least would have no part in a 
deed so unrighteous ; and they might do as they pleased on 
their own responsibility. This did not suit them ; and finding 
that the political charge to which they had given prominence 
for the express purpose of bringing the matter to a speedy is- 
sue, had not made the impression they expected, they returned 
to their religious accusation, declaring that He deserved death 
as a blasphemer, who made himself out to be the Son of God. 
This new accusation terrified and perplexed still more the 
already strongly-impressed Pilate. Noticing His whole de- 
meanor, His deep and solemn words, and the recent dreams 
of his wife, he was filled with an awful misgiving, and he pro- 
ceeded to question Jesus respecting his origin. But he obtained 
no answer, Jesus being, as some suggest, unwilling to lead into 
a greater moral struggle one who, as He saw, would not be 
able to fight through the battle. This silence, however, an- 
noyed the Roman, who endeavored to elicit an answer from our 
Lord by reminding Him of his power over Him. And to that, 
Jesus, perceiving his inward anguish in his judgment concern- 
ing Him, replied by reminding him of his dependence upon a 
higher Power, and by declaring that the guilt involved in the 
issue of this transaction, would lie far more heavily at the door 
of the Jewish accusers than of the Roman judge. There was 
here not only an entire absence of hostility, but something of 
regard, some sympathy for the mental struggle which the 
Roman was manifestly undergoing. This Pilate felt; and 
strangely impressed by the superiority this wonderful person- 
age had acquired over him, strove with still greater earnestness 
to release Him. The Jews were still full of nothing but blind 
fury ; and perceiving that their last charge had failed, they re- 
turned to the old one with fresh vigor. They cried — " If thou 
let this man go, thou art not Caesar's friend. Whosoever 
maketh himself a king, speaketh against Caesar." This was 
terrible to such a man as Pilate, involving, as it did, a charge 



THE CRUCIFIXION. 417 

against himself, which, if it ever reached Rome, could hardly 
fail to be his ruin. Before this his resolution gave way ; and 
all his remaining care was to make the deed as much theirs as 
possible. Once more he ascended the judgment-seat, and 
caused Jesus to be again brought forth from the palace. 
" Behold your king !" he cried as Jesus appeared. Again the 
cry to crucify Him arose. " Shall I crucify your king V asked 
Pilate, with bitter sarcasm, of those who were driving him to 
act against his conscience. They answered, with a profession 
of attachment to the Roman government, the gross hypocrisy 
of which must, under all the circumstances, have been loath- 
some to him, " We have no king but Caesar." 

At last the fear of man prevailed over the reproofs of con- 
science ; and vainly did Pilate seek to render satisfaction to the 
latter, by publicly washing his hands, saying, "I am innocent 
of the blood of this just person ; see ye to it." With a horrid 
gladness, they accepted the responsibility he strove to shake 
off, crying — "His blood be upon us aud on our children." 
And their acceptance of the burden of that blood, was more 
effectual than his rejection of it ; for heavily did it lie on them, 
and heavily has it lain upon their children unto this day. But 
the day is coming when they will look on Him whom they 
have pierced, and mourn for Him as for an only son. 



THIRTY-NINTH WEEK— FRIDAY. 

THE CRUCIFIXION. 

matthew xxvii. 32-66 ; mark xv. 2-47 ; luke xxiii. 26-56 ; 
john xix. 16-42. 

Our Lord had himself always prophesied, under different 
forms of expression, that by his countrymen He would be given 
up to the heathen, and that by their hands He would be cru- 
cified, or " lifted up ;" that is, lifted up on the cross. This was 
a Roman and not a Jewish punishment, and therefore showed 

18* 



418 THIRTY-NINTH WEEK FRIDAY. 

his prescience that his death, although brought about by the 
Jews, would be inflicted by the Romans, who introduced this 
form of capital punishment in all their wide dominions, except 
for those who had the privilege of Roman citizens, who were 
beheaded. It was essentially the most ignominious form of 
death, as hanging is with us. 

The execution of our Lord was conducted according to the 
ordinary forms of this punishment, except in some particulars, 
which were modified to meet the peculiar objections of the 
Jews in regard to some parts of it. 

We may now proceed to trace the circumstances of this 
punishment ; and this may be the more interesting, as death 
by crucifixion had been abolished many centuries before it 
began to be represented by the painters, from whom the gen- 
eral ideas of it are derived, and who, having no materials of 
actual observation, made some considerable mistakes in im- 
portant particulars, which we are now enabled to correct, by 
the aid of writers who lived while this punishment was in use. 

The places of execution were always outside the walls of 
towns. At Jerusalem it was upon a swell of ground called 
Golgotha — the place of a skull, — some say on account of the 
skulls of dead criminals that lay about there, forgetting that 
the Jews never suffered either the bodies or bones even of 
criminals to remain unburied. The name was therefore doubt- 
less derived from the skull-like shape of the hill — for we are 
not bound to credit the tradition, that it was thus named be- 
cause the skull of Adam had been found there. 

Both among Jews and Romans executions took place imme- 
diately after conviction. It was usual first to scourge those 
who were to be crucified ; but Jesus had been already scourged, 
and was therefore at once led away to this place for execution. 
Among the Romans, as among the Jews, and as now in France, 
soldiers were much employed in the apprehension and punish- 
ment of criminals. It was to soldiers, therefore, under the 
command of a centurion, that the crucifixion of our Lord, and 
of two robbers to be executed at the same time, was committed. 
The German legion is known to have been at that time sta 



THE CRUCIFIXION. 419 

tioned in Palestine, and it was probably to soldiers of that 
legion the execution was entrusted. 

Jesus, after having been given over to execution, had been 
divested of his robes of mockery, and his own simple raiment 
was restored to Him. He was then led to Golgotha. The 
condemned always walked, and the distance was in this case 
not considerable. They had not only to walk, but to carry the 
cross on which they were to be crucified. This indeed was a 
part, and a grievous part, of the punishment ; and it served to 
show to the people the nature of the procession, and to indicate 
the person of the criminal. That this was possible and usual, 
shows that either the scourging previous to execution was less 
severe than is usually supposed, or that the cross was not so 
large and ponderous as is commonly represented. This was 
certainly the case, the cross being simply strong enough to 
sustain the weight of a human body, and high enough to raise 
the feet a little above the ground. It is true that our Lord 
could not long carry the cross ; but others did, and it was 
usual to do so. This fact, however, proves that it was heavy 
enough to be a good load for a man, and the one actually to 
be used in the execution, and not merely a light representation 
of it, as is sometimes imagined. Our Lord, exhausted by his 
previous sufferings of body and mind, fainted under the burden ; 
and it being clear that He could carry it no further, the soldiers 
seized hold of a man coming in from the country, and com- 
pelled him to bear it after Jesus. This person was Simon the 
Cyrenian — that is, of Cyrene in Africa ; whether as originally 
from thence, but now settled in Jerusalem or its neighborhood, 
or as having come from thence to the Passover. We suppose 
that the latter was the case, for there seems no reason why he 
should have been selected, but that his being seen to be a 
stranger marked him out for a task too degrading to be forced 
upon a native Jew. There were probably disciples in the 
crowd, who would have been glad to have volunteered to per* 
form this office for their revered Master, but were deterred by 
the fear of bringing suspicion upon themselves. Some think 
Simon was a disciple of Christ, and that he was singled out on 



420 THIRTY-NINTH WEEK FRIDAY. 

account of the special marks of interest and sympathy he 
manifested. One would suppose, however, that a disciple of 
Jesus would hardly have been away that morning, and coming 
in just then. But the notice by Mark", that he was " the father 
of Alexander and Rufus," persons evidently well known to the 
early church, suggests that he and his did afterwards become 
eminent disciples ; and that as now literally, so afterwards did 
he spiritually, take up his cross and follow Him — finding thus 
a glorious reward for his labor. 

A great crowd, as might be expected, followed the sad pro- 
cession — many of them the same persons who, a few days 
before, had made themselves hoarse in shouting hosannas as 
Jesus entered in Messianic triumph the gate of the city oppo- 
site to that which He was now leaving, as a prisoner condemned 
to die. What was the general feeling now among those who 
witnessed that dismal sight, we know not ; but we know that 
the women, of whom there were many, bewailed and lamented 
Him without restraint. This attracted our Lord's attention ; 
and He turned and said to them, — " Daughters of Jerusalem, 
weep not for Me, but weep for yourselves and for your chil- 
dren ;" and then went on to warn them shortly of the evils of 
the coming time. 

The cross consisted of a strong upright post, sharpened at 
the lower end, by which it was planted in the ground, having 
a short bar or stake projecting from its middle, and a larger 
transverse beam firmly joined near its top. In short, it was 
much as usually represented, but not generally so high ; and 
that in all representations the middle bar is omitted, and this 
is a serious difference, as much of the weight of the crucified 
person rested on this bar, on which he in some sort sat; 
whereas, without this, the whole weight of the body would 
have been suspended from the spikes driven through the hands 
and feet. This seat, if we may so call it, rendered the death 
less torturing, but more lingering, and helps to account for the 
length of time the crucified, under ordinary conditions, remained 
alive upon the cross. 

Arrived at the place of execution, the condemned man waa 



THE CRUCIFIXION. 4C1 

divested of his clothing ; and was usually presented with a cup 
of wine, sometimes medicated, with a view to impart firmness 
or alleviate pain. This cup was offered to our Lord, but He 
refused it, choosing to endure all that was laid upon Him with 
a clear and perfect consciousness. The condemned was then 
speedily nailed to the cross, either before or after its erection. 
In either case, he was made to sit upon the middle bar, and 
his limbs having been extended and bound with cords, were 
finally secured with large iron spikes driven through their ex- 
tremities, the hands to the transverse beam, and the feet to the 
upright post. The feet were usually nailed separately, but 
sometimes one long spike was driven through both feet. The 
pain was of course dreadful ; but the wounds were not in 
themselves dangerous, nor was there much loss of blood — no 
important artery being severed. It was at this agonising mo- 
ment that our Lord prayed, " Father, forgive them ; for they 
know not what they do." Thus did He " make intercession for 
the transgressors," as had been foretold of Him ; and affoided 
a grand example of magnanimity to all his followers* who 
might suffer for righteousness' sake. 

It was usual for the Romans to put a " title," or inscription, 
at the top of the cross, to denote the offence of the crucified 
person: a custom observed also by the Turks in their analogous 
punishment of impalement. In the provinces, these inscrip- 
tions were in different languages, so that all might be able to 
understand for what offence the criminal was executed. The 
title set upon our Lord's cross was in the vernacular " Hebrew," 
or rather Chaldo-Syriac, the language of Judea ; in Latin, the 
language of the Romans ; and in Greek, the language most 
generally spoken in the eastern parts of the Roman empire. 
At first, Pilate may have ordered the inscription to be made 
out with no particular regard to its import. It was, " This is 
the King of the Jews." But finding, from their complaints, 
that it was unpleasant to the priests, whom he detested, he ex- 
ulted in their annoyance, and refused to alter it to — "He said, 
I am the King of the Jews." 

Jesus now hung upor the cross ; and the soldiers proceeded 



422 THIRTY-NINTH WEEK FRIDAY. 

at leisure to divide the poor spoil his garments afforded. They 
found no difficulty but with the outer garment, which was the 
most valuable article of his dress ; and which, being woven 
throughout — that is, seamless, — could not be divided without 
destroying its value. For this, therefore, they cast lots : thus 
fulfilling, with astonishing precision, a prediction concerning 
Christ, of which they had never heard, — " They parted my 
raiment among them, and for my vesture did they cast lots."* 

And how were those who beheld it affected by this awful 
spectacle ? Alas for human nature ! all the sympathy which 
that spectacle was calculated to excite was confined to his 
mother, whose heart the long-predicted sword had at length 
pierced ; to one beloved disciple, who alone ventured to be 
present there; to a few women from Galilee, who had to the 
last been faithful and true; and to one of the robbers who 
hung in torture by his side. For the rest, all the evil passions 
which haunt man's nature, seemed roused to make bitter the 
last hours of the Eedeemer. The soldiers mocked Him ; the 
passers-by reviled Him ; one of the robbers upbraided Him ; 
and even chief-priests, scribes, and Pharisees, members of the 
supreme court of justice, losing every feeling of humanity, and 
all respect for the dignity of their rank and character, treated 
Him with extreme cruelty. At length the sun refused any 
longer to behold such wickedness. It withdrew, and left the 
world in darkness, while He who was the Light of the world 
was about to expire. This darkness lasted three hours, from 
twelve to three o'clock (the crucifixion having commenced at 
nine), when the Redeemer rendered up his soul to his Father. 

And what, meanwhile, was His demeanor ? Unmoved by 
the taunts and insults which were cast upon Him, or by the 
sufferings He endured, no complaints, or murmurings, or up- 
braidings, were heard from Him. His thought was still all for 
others, not for himself. And He still, while thus hanging in 
torture between earth and heaven, found scope for the exercise 
of his benevolence : bestowing hope and comfort on one of the 
malefactors who hung by his side; and, with filial affection, 
* Psal. xxii. 18. 



THE CRUCIFIXION. 42J 

recommending his beloved mother to the care of his beloved 
disciple. 

During part of the time the darkness lasted, our Lord appears 
to have relapsed into his garden agony. It seems to have 
been part of the Divine plan, that He should again labor under 
the hiding of the Father's face, and again be oppressed by the 
consciousness of the weight and burden of that sin in man for 
■which He laid down his life. At length He cried in agony, 
" My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me !" The agony 
passed, and left Him thirsty and faint. On his intimating this 
to the soldiers, they soaked a sponge in vinegar, and lifted it 
upon the top of a reed to his mouth. Presently after, He 
knew that his task was accomplished ; that He had endured 
and suffered all ; that nothing more was required from Him 
as the price of man's redemption ; and that He was, therefore, 
free to lay aside that flesh in which He had suffered so long. 
It was then He cried out, " It is finished !" All was finished. 
Nothing that He had undertaken remained incomplete. Man 
was saved ; and He was free to depart. It was then that He 
bowed his head, and resigned into his Father's hands his spirit. 
He died. 

He whose birth had been signally celebrated, could not thus 
finish his great task and leave the earth unnoticed. The vail 
of the temple, separating the holy from the most holy place, 
was rent in twain, — signifying the ending of the ritual and re- 
stricted dispensation of Moses, and that full light was now to be 
let in upon the mysteries of the heavenly kingdom. Even the 
earth trembled : rocks were rent asunder ; and the tombs were 
burst open, and sent forth their dead. The impression made 
by these circumstances was great. Those who had remained 
thus long through the darkness, now " smote their breasts, and 
returned." And the centurion, beholding these circumstances, 
together with the demeanor of our Saviour, and the marked 
yielding up of his life so much before the usual time, could not 
restrain the exclamation, " Truly, this was the Son of God !" 

It was the custom of the Komans to leave the crucified upon 
the cross till they expired ; and, indeed, to leave even the dead 



424 THIRTY-NINTH WEEK FRIDAY. 

bodies upon them, for an example and a warning. But the 
Jewish law directed that the bodies of those who were hanged 
up for exposure, should be taken down and buried before sun- 
set ; whereby the land of Israel was happily exempted from 
Jiose shocking spectacles which have been frequent in all lands, 
ond which have only within living memory been banished from 
•>ur own. Accordingly, in Palestine, the Romans departed 
■Vom their usual custom, and despatched those upon the cross 
«vho remained alive towards the close of day. They almost in- 
variably were alive then, for crucifixion was an exceedingly 
lingering death ; and, unless under peculiar circumstances, it 
was rare for any one to expire in less than thirty-six hours, and 
many lived several days. The men who came to examine the 
bodies before taking them down, found the two robbers alive ; 
and despatched them by breaking their legs with a bar of iron. 
But when they came to Jesus, they were astonished to find 
Him already dead ; but to make sure, as He might possibly be 
in a swoon, one of them ran a spear into his side. This alone 
would have been sufficient to kill Him, had He still lived ; but 
the blood and water which flowed forth from the wound, showed 
that He was already dead. 

Jesus was not to find an unhonored grave. One of his dis- 
ciples was a person of wealth and dignity, named Joseph, of 
Arimathea, who was, like Nicodenms, a member of the San- 
hedrim. This person now scrupled not to manifest his attach- 
ment to Christ ; for he went boldly to Pilate, to request that 
the body might be given up to him for interment. It is worthy 
of note, that Pilate also was astonished to learn that Jesus had 
died so soon ; showing that it was altogether a very extraordi- 
nary circumstance. He readily granted the application. And 
the time being short, Joseph hastily removed the body ; and, 
after wrapping it up with a large quantity of costly spices pro- 
vided by JSTicodemus, deposited, it in a new sepulchre of his 
own, in a garden but little distant from the place of crucifixion. 
They then departed, after rolling a great stone to the mouth 
of the sepulchre. 



THE RESURRECTION. 425 



THIRTY-NINTH WEEK— SATURDAY. 

THE RESURRECTION.* 

matt, xxviii. ; MARK XVI. 1-20 ; LUKE XXIV. ; 

JOHN XX., XXI. 

The enemies of Jesus remembered that He had once or 
twice intimated that, after three days, He would rise again 
from the dead. They therefore applied to Pilate for a guard 
to watch the sepulchre, lest, as they alleged, the disciples 
should steal away their Master's body, and give out that He 
had risen from the dead. This was more matter of meditation 
for Pilate. How it affected him we know not ; but he allowed 
them to employ in this service the guard they already had, 
and authorized them to secure the sepulchre in any way they 
thought best. The guard was therefore stationed ; and, for 
farther security, the stone that closed the sepulchre was sealed, 
so that it was impossible that the stone could be moved with- 
out the fact being detected. It was thus, in the wisdom of 
God, ordered that the fears of the enemies of Jesus secured 
that evidence of the reality of the resurrection, which, had it 
come from friends alone, might be held open to suspicion. 

Jesus was deposited in the sepulchre a little before sunset 
on Friday, and rose very early on Sunday morning, so that He 
was almost thirty-six hours in the tomb, — being two nights and 
one intervening day ; but, as this involved one whole clay and 
parts of two days, it is rightly described, according to Jewish 
usage, as three days — or, rather, the resurrection was on the 
third day. The actual circumstances of the resurrection are 
not fully stated by the sacred writers. We only know that 

* The main object of this evening's Reading is to supply a connected 
and coherent statement of the circumstances attending and following 
the Resurrection, as related by the different evangelists. This is a dif- 
ficult portion of gospel history, needing some such assistance as is here 
given; in affording which to the readers of this work, we have availed 
ourselves of an admirable paper by Professor Robinson, of New York, 
printed in the American Bibliotheca Sacra for February, 1845. 



426 THIRTY-NINTH WEEK SATURDAY. 

very early on Sunday morning there was an earthquake, and 
an angel of the Lord descended, and rolled away the stone 
from the sepulchre and sat upon it, — showing that he did not 
then enter. "His countenance was like lightning, and his 
raiment white as snow," and at the sight of him the guards 
were struck with terror, and sunk like men dead to the 
ground. What took place in the sepulchre we know not ; but 
when soon after examined, there were no marks of confusion 
or haste; but, on the contrary, everything testified of delibera- 
tion and composure. The grave-cloth was folded up and laid 
apart ; the head-napkin was also folded and deposited in an- 
other place. 

The women who had come from Galilee had never lost sight 
of their Lord, from the time He was brought forth to be cruci- 
fied until they noted the tomb in which He was laid. Their 
names were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and 
Salome the mother of Zebedee's sons. Knowing the haste in 
which the body had been deposited, it was their intention to 
come early in the morning after the Sabbath, and dispose the 
body in a more orderly manner for its final rest. After the 
Sabbath had ended, at sunset, they employed the evening in 
the requisite preparations, including the purchase of spices and 
perfumes — perhaps not being aware of the abundant provision 
made by Nicodemus in that respect. It was early dawn on 
Sunday morning when they set out ; and as they went, it 
occurred to them that they would find an insuperable difficulty 
in the removal of the great stone that closed the sepulchre. 
But when they came to the spot, they observed with amaze- 
ment that the stone had been already removed, and that the 
mouth of the sepulchre stood open. On perceiving this, Mary 
Magdalene, without further examination, concluded that the 
Lord's body had been stolen away ; and ran with all haste 
back to the city, to inform Peter and John, leaving the other 
two at the sepulchre, into which they entered. They saw at 
once that the body of Jesus had disappeared ; but they per- 
ceived also the angel, as a young man clothed in a long white 
garment sitting by the right of tha spot where the body had 



THE RESURRECTION. 42*7 

Iain. They were naturally terrified ; but the angel spoke to 
them gentle words, and told them of the object of their search 
that, " He is risen ; He is not here : behold the place where 
they laid Him." The good angel knew that even this would 
be a satisfaction to those faithful women. He also gave them 
a message to the apostles — that Jesus would meet them when 
they returned to Galilee. 

As these two women were hastening back with gladdened 
hearts, Jesus himself met them, saying, " All hail !" With 
gentle words, He quieted their first alarm, and allowed them 
to approach and embrace his feet in testimony of their joy and 
homage. He then reiterated the message the angel had given, 
and pursued his way. 

Meanwhile, Mary Magdalene had found Peter and John ; 
and, excited by the report she brought, they both hurried off 
to the sepulchre. They ran; and John outstripping Peter, 
arrived soonest at the spot, and, stooping down, looked into 
the tomb, which he found to be indeed empty, but took notice 
of the grave-clothes lying in the manner before described. He 
did not enter ; but, when Peter came up, he, with his charac- 
teristic ardor, at once went in. John also then entered, and 
took particular notice of the circumstances ; and, reflecting that 
any person stealing the body would scarcely have divested it 
of the grave-clothes, or have disposed of them in the orderly 
manner he witnessed, or indeed have left them at all behind, 
he began to have some faint notion that Jesus might have 
risen from the dead. He says himself that he " believed ;" and 
it is difficult to understand what he could then believe on the 
evidence before him but this. 

Peter and John then returned thoughtful to the city, won- 
dering greatly at what they had witnessed ; but Mary Magda- 
lene, who had followed them back to the garden, remained 
there alone after they had departed, weeping before the sepul- 
chre. In the midst of her tears, she stooped down, as John 
had done, and for the first time looked in — and then, to her 
amazement, she beheld two angels robed in white, sitting, one 
at the head and the other at the 'bot, where the body of Jesus 



428 THIRTY-NINTH WEEK — SATURDAY. 

had lain. To their question, why she wept, she answered, be* 
cause her Lord's body had been removed, she knew not whither. 
After this, she turned slightly round, and perceived there was 
a person standing alone behind her, whom, from his being there, 
she supposed to be the keeper of the garden. He also asked 
her why she wept, and she gave the same answer she had jus! 
given to the angels ; except that she supposed he may have 
been engaged in the removal of the body she desired to recover 
He simply uttered in reply, in well-known tones, her name, 
'• Mary !" and the whole truth at once flashed upon her soul. 
She exclaims, " Rabboni !" as much as to say, My dearest 
Master ! and like the other women, fell at his feet, as if to em- 
brace them and render Him her homage. But this He forbade, 
for some reason not very clear to us, for He had allowed it not 
long before to Mary and Salome. After this interview, Mary 
Magdalene hastened back to the city, and told the disciples 
that she had seen the Lord, and what He had said to her. 
She found them in the midst of their sorrow ; and when she 
told them that Jesus was alive, and that she had seen Him, 
she could not gain belief. 

In the afternoon of the same day, two of our Lord's disciples, 
one of them named Cleopas, were on their way from Jerusa- 
lem to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from the 
city. They had heard before they left some reports of what 
had taken place in the morning — that the tomb had been 
found open and empty, and that the woman had seen " a vision 
of angels," who said that Jesus was alive. They had perhaps 
not heard before their departure the latter report, that Jesus 
had himself appeared to Mary Magdalene, and to the other 
women ; or if they had heard this, they seem to have attached 
no importance to it, but, like the other disciples, regarded these 
reports as " idle tales." They were very sorrowful, however, 
for their Lord's death, and perplexed by the disappearance of 
his body; while they more than all deplored the frustraiion of 
their hopes, that He would " have delivered Israel" from the 
Romans. As they discoursed in melancholy tones of these 
things, Jesus himself drew nigh ; " but their eyes were holden 



THE RESURRECTION. 429 

that they should not know Him." Some have thought that 
they were recent converts, and had not seen much of Jesus, so 
that now, when He was in a different dress from what they 
had seen Him wear, and especially as they supposed Him dead 
they did not recognise Him. But it is clear from the way in 
which they did eventually recognise Him, that they had known 
Him well, and the evangelist seems clearly to intimate that 
they were supernaturally restrained from knowing Him at 
this time. 

He accosted them courteously, and inquired the subject of 
their earnest and sad discourse. When they acquainted Him 
with it, He rebuked them for their slowness of heart to believe 
all the prophets had spoken, which clearly showed that what 
had happened, and not what they had expected, was in ac- 
cordance with the Divine plan for man's redemption. Then 
beginning with Moses, and going through all the prophets, He 
explained to them what was written in the Scriptures concern- 
ing himself. They felt the power of his words ; and, as they 
afterwards expressed it, their " hearts burned within them." 
Arriving at their destination, they pressed the Stranger to re- 
main there over the night, as it was now late for further travel- 
ling. He consented, and they entered the house together. 
Their humble supper was soon ready; and the Stranger, at once 
assuming his usual office when taking a meal with his disciples, 
took the bread, blessed it, and gave it to them. In the man- 
ner of this act, and in the tone of voice in which the blessing 
was given, they at once recognised the Lord ; but before they 
could recover from their surprise, He had withdrawn from 
their sight. After this, the two disciples could not remain 
there, but hastened back to Jerusalem to make this great event 
known to the apostles. They found the eleven, with some 
other disciples, assembled together, and as they entered, were 
greeted with the intelligence : — " The Lord hath risen indeed, 
and hath appeared unto Simon !" They then rehearsed what 
had happened to themselves ; but the disciples seemed at first 
to discredit their report, as they had the morning reports of 
the women, evidently regarding the testimony of Peter as of 



430 THIRTY-NINTH WEEK— SATURDAY. 

far more importance. Of this interview of our Lord with 
Peter, no particulars are given, though it is mentioned by Paul, 
who, in speaking of those by whom our Lord had been seen after 
his resurrection, names the appearance to Peter first, and says 
nothing of the appearances to the women and to these two 
disciples. (1 Cor. xv. 5.) 

The disciples were at their evening meal, and the two from 
Emmaus were still engaged in their relation, when Jesus him- 
self came and stood in the midst of them, and gave the usual 
salutation — " Peace be unto you." As the disciples had dis- 
credited most of the previous reports, so now they distrusted 
the evidence of their own sight, and supposed, in their alarm, 
that what the saw was a ghost. Jesus hastened to dispel their 
illusion. To convince them that it was himself, He invited 
them to touch Him ; He showed them the wounds in his hands 
and his feet ; and for their farther conviction, He asked for 
some food ; and when they presented Him with some broiled 
fish and honey-comb, He ate it before them. He then ap- 
prised them that their office in the service of his kingdom, so 
far from having ended, had now really begun ; and as a fore- 
taste and earnest of the rich qualifying graces of the Spirit 
which awaited them, He breathed upon them saying, " Receive 
ye the Holy Ghost." 

One of the apostles was absent on this occasion ; and when, 
on his return, the others related what had occurred, he disbe- 
lieved them, as they had before discredited the women. This 
was Thomas ; whose expression of doubt, though reprehensibly 
strong, is in keeping with the peculiar character we have al- 
ready seen him indicate : " Except I shall see in his hands the 
prints of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, 
and thrust my hand into his side, / will not believe." That 
day-week, when they were again assembled, probably in the 
same place, Thomas was present. Jesus then again appeared 
among them, much in the same manner as before ; and instantly 
expressed his consciousness of what had passed, by calling 
Thomas forward to put his finger into the prints of the nails, 
and to thrust his hand into his wounded side. It is not likelv 



THE RESURRECTION. 431 

that he did so ; but rather, oppressed and filled with a sense 
of the divinity that beamed forth in this manifestation of the, 
risen Saviour, Thomas addressed Him by a title which had 
never hitherto, as far as we know, been applied to Him by 
any of his disciples — " My Lord and my God !" Jesus, how- 
ever, did not fail to rebuke him for making a visible sign the 
condition of his belief. Far more blessed and precious is that 
faith which arises from within, than that which thus waits for 
a summons from without. There is reason to believe that 
Thomas never forgot this lesson ; but there is not much of his 
subsequent history known to us. 

It appears that, even before his death, our Lord had ap- 
pointed to meet the disciples in Galilee after his resurrection 
— (Matt. xxvi. 32) ; — and after He had risen, the same intima- 
tion was, as we have seen, sent to them through the women 
who were first of all privileged to look upon their risen Lord. 
Accordingly, they left Jerusalem soon after the termination of 
the Passover festival, and returned to their homes in Galilee. 
Both the time and place were probably appointed. We hear, 
indeed, of "a certain mountain." And while the apostles 
awaited the appointed time, they engaged in their usual occu- 
pations — most of them as fishermen. One day, as evening 
advanced, seven of them (including Peter, Thomas, and the 
sons of Zebedee) put out upon the lake with their nets in a 
fishing-boat; but during all the night they caught nothing. 
At early dawn a Stranger was seen upon the shore, from which 
they were then not far distant ; and He called to them, telling 
them to cast their nets on the right side of the vessel. This 
they did, and then were not able — not all the seven of them — 
to draw in the net on account of the multitude of fishes which 
it enclosed. Some one — perhaps John — recognised his Master 
in this miracle ; and no sooner did Peter catch the suggestion, 
" It is the Lord," than, with his characteristic ardor, he leaped 
into the water that he might the sooner reach the shore. When 
the other disciples landed, they found a fire kindled, with fish 
broiling thereon, and bread ready there. By the direction of 
the Stranger, they brought some of the fish they had caught, 



432 THIRTY-NINTH WEES. SATURDAY. 

and these also being dressed, ample materials for a simple meal 
were provided. Of this they were invited to partake, and Jesus 
took his usual part as master of the little feast, distributing 
their portions to the disciples. All this while no explanation 
had passed on either side ; and of the disciples, "no one asked, 
Who art Thou ? knowing it was the Lord." It was on this 
occasion, and after this meal, that our Lord put to Peter the 
touching and thrice-repeated question, "Lovest thou Me?" and 
charged him to evince his love by feeding his Lord's lambs and 
his sheep. 

At the appointed time, the apostles repaired to " the moun- 
tain" where they were to meet their Lord. Jesus had lived 
longer in Galilee, and had labored more there, than in any 
other part of the country, and it was here that his disciples 
were most numerous. This interview was perhaps, therefore, 
more public and solemn than any other, not only with the 
apostles, but with all the disciples who could be got together ; 
and it is probably to this occasion that St. Paul refers when he 
says, that our Lord was " seen of five hundred brethren at 
once." It was a great and solemn assembly, where Jesus met 
for the first time after his resurrection, and took his last fare- 
well on earth of many of his most attached adherents. He 
then repeated to all the assembled disciples thus publicly the 
charge which the apostles had already received, to go and teach 
all nations, no longer restricting themselves to the Jews alone, 
as before his death ; and that they might be sufficient for the 
services and sufferings before them, He gave them the assurance, 
"Lo, I am with you. always, even to the end of the world !" 

There were probably many other interviews which Christ 
held with his apostles, both before and after they had returned 
to Jerusalem by his direction. In Acts i. 15, this is indeed 
plainly enough intimated. St. Paul (1 Cor. xviii. 1) mentions 
one interview with James, which is not historically recorded ; 
and he says, that "after that," our Lord was seen of "all the 
apostles," probably at an appointed interview just before the 
Ascension. On that occasion, He renewed the promise of that 
baptism of the Spirit through which they would be guided into 



THE RESURRECTION. 433 

all truth, and be made the efficient instruments of its promul- 
gation. 

Forty days bad now elapsed since our Lord had risen from 
the tomb, when, during the discourse to which we have just 
referred, or in immediate connexion with it, He conducted the 
disciples out to the Mount of Olives, the scene of so many 
interesting circumstances in his career. Here he lifted up his 
bands and blessed them ; and while his hands remained up- 
lifted in blessing, He was parted from them, and taken up into 
heaven. A cloud soon hid Him from their view ; but while 
they were still gazing upward, hopeful to catch one more glance 
of his receding form, " two men in white apparel," who were 
doubtless commissioned angels, were seen standing by, who 
told them that " this same Jesus, who is taken up from you 
into heaven, shall so come, in like manner as ye have seen 
Him go into heaven." 

Even so, come, Lord Jesus. 



ths 3?rn. 



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